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THE 


ADMINISTRATION  OP  IOWA 


A  STUDY  IN  CENTRALIZATION 


BY 


HAROLD  MARTIN  BOWMAN,  LL.B.,  A.  M., 

University  Fellow  in  Administrative  Law 


SUBMITTED   IN   PARTIAL  FULFILMENT   OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS 

FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

IN  THE 

Faculty  of  Political  Science 

OF 

Columbia  University 


•flew  igorft 

1G03 


-bt't 


^S'^^l 


^-•^ 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA:  ITS  BASIS  AND  PROBLEMS. 

rAGB 

The  administrative  problem 1 1 

Characteristics  of  Iowa  government < ii 

Early  conditions Ii 

The  State  administration 13 

The  local  administration 13 

Conservative  growth 14 

Evolution  of  the  administrative  problem 16 

Scope  of  the  discussion 17 

CHAPTER  II. 
PUBLIC  EDUCATION. 

I.  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Administration  of  thi  Schools  ....  19 

School  finance  and  g«neral  administrative  development 19 

Organization  of  the  school  system,  1839- 1 84 1 ao 

The  Township  School  Inspectors 22 

The  Territorial  Superintendent,  1841-1842 23 

Reports  to  the  Legislature,  demoralization,  1842- 1847 ^ 

Education  and  school  finance  combined 25 

School  Commission  of  1856 — results 30 

Education  and  school  finance  made  distinct,  1857 31 

R6gime  of  the  State  Board  of  Education,  1858-1863 31 

Office  of  State  Superintendent  again  provided  for 38 

Period  of  reaction,  1863-1870 38 

Later  steps  toward  centralization 39 

Summary 40 

II.  The  Administration  of  the  School  Unit 42 

Character  of  the  school  unit 4a 

5]  5 


X.. 


6                                     TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  [6 

PAOB 

Powers  of  school  electors 45 

'    Powers  of  school  directors 45 

III.  The  County  School  Administration 46 

Position  of  the  County  Superintendent 46 

Administrative  powers  and  duties 46 

Appellate  jurisdiction 49 

Criticism  of  the  County  Superintendent 50 

Future  of  the  County  Superintendency 52 

IV.  The  Central  School  Administration 53 

1,  The  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 53 

His  position  in  general 53 

Powers  of  supervision  and  direct  administration 53 

Appellate  jurisdiction 55 

Extent 56 

Development  of  attributes 57 

Decisions  and  operation 62 

Suggested  changes 67 

Advisory  influence 70 

2.  State  educational  boards 74 

a.  The  State  Board  of  Educational  Examiners 74 

Local  examinations,  1 838-1 861 74 

The  Board  of  the  University  Faculty,  1 86 1-1873 75 

The  State  Board  of  Educational  Examiners  provided  for  .    .    .  76 

Powers,  work  and  problems 76 

b.  The  State  Teachers'  Association  and  the  high  schools    ....  81 

Development  of  a  standard  for  high  schools 81 

Accrediting  of  high  schools 82 

c.  The  Boards  of  Trustees  of  the  state  educational  institutions   .    .  83 

Relation  of  the  state  to  higher  education 83 

Position  of  the  boards  in  the  school  administration 84 

Organization  and  powers  of  the  boards 85 

V.  Conclusion:  The  Relations  of  the  Several  Branches  of  the 

School  Administration 88 

The  present  lack  of  close  organization 88 

Theoretical  symmetry  of  the  •*  common  school "  system 89 

Present  and  future  centralization 89 

Union  of  the  central  administrative  boards  and  officers 91 

The  means  of  betterment 9^ 


7]  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  y 


X 


CHAPTER  III. 


CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS. 

I.  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Administration  of  Charities  and  Cor- 

rections      93 

1.  Development  of  the  local  administration 94 

What  the  local  administration  includes 94 

Period  of  decentralization,  1 838-1 900 94 

Period  of  limited  centralization,  1900 98 

State  aid  to  private  institutions 98 

2.  Development  of  the  administration  of  the  state  institutions     ...  99 

Period  of  decentralization,  1838-1870 99 

First  steps ;  state  aid  to  special  classes 99 

The  growth  of  state  institutions lOO 

Common  type  of  administration ;  trustee  system   ....  lOl 

Divergences  from  the  common  type loa 

External  control ;  Governor  and  Executive  Council.   .    .  104 

Period  of  agitation  and  transition,  1 870-1898 106 

First  bill  for  a  central  board,  1870 106 

The  Visiting  Committee  to  the  hospitals  for  the  insane    .    .    .  107 

Legislative  and  official  sentiment 108 

Provision  for  investigation  and  Code  of  1897 '08 

Report  of  Healy  Investigating  Committee *  .   .  109 

The  debate  over  a  new  system lio 

The  attainment  of  central  control    . II3 

II.  The  Present  Administration  :  the  Board  of  Control iia 

Organization  and  membership 1 12 

Relations  to  the  legislature 115 

Powers  and  duties 115 

Control  of  the  state  charitable,  penal  and  correctional  institutions  .  116 

Powers  of  appointment  and  removal 116 

Powers  of  direct  administration 117 

Advisory  and  educational  powers 121 

Financial  surveillance  of  educational  institutions 122 

Supervision  of  private  and  county  institutions  for  the  insane    ...  122 

Results  of  the  system 124 

The  future  of  administration  in  this  department 127 

Care  of  inmates  at  state  expense 127 

Further  central  control  of  local  administration 127 


S                                   TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  ^ 

CHAPTER  IV. 
PUBLIC  HEALTH  AND  SAFETY. 

I.  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Administration  of  Public  Health  and 

Safety 129 

General  characteristics 129 

Period  of  development  and  decentralization 130 

Health  administration  an  incidental  function,  1838-1866     ....  130 

Health  administration  a  specific  function,  1866 133 

The  State  Board  of  Health 135 

Creation  of  the  state  board 135 

First  test  of  the  law 135 

Agitation  for  increased  power 136 

Authority  increased  in  minor  ways 138 

Crisis  of  1902 ;  powers  of  central  control  granted 139 

Aissumption  of  auxiliary  functions  by  the  State 141 

Care  of  cattle  diseases 141 

Early  laws 141 

OflSce  of  State  Veterinary  Surgeon  created,  1884 141 

Effect  of  subsequent  laws 142 

Inspection  of  mines 143 

County  administration  to  1880 143 

State  administration,  1880 144 

Inspection  of  milk 144 

Office  of  State  Dairy  Commissioner  created,  1886 144 

Commissioner  given  power  to  inspect  milk,  1892 145 

II.  Operation  and  Results  of  the  Administration 145 

1.  The  State  Board  of  Health 145 

Organization  of  the  state  board 145 

Classification  of  functions 146 

Functions  in  relations  to  local  boards 147 

Independent  state  functions     .    .    .  % 149 

Effects  of  the  health  administration 151 

Auxiliary  functions 152 

The  State  Board  of  Medical  Examiners 153 

2.  Specific  Health  and  Safety  Administration 154 

State  Veterinary  Surgeon 154 

Mine  inspection 155 

State  Dairy  Commissioner 155 

3.  Relations  of  the  several  branches  of  administration  of  health  and  safety.  156 


q]                        table  of  contents  9 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  V. 

PUBLIC  FINANCE:  INCOME  AND  ADMINISTRATION. 

I.  General  Character  of  the  Income  Administration 159 

Chief  phenomena 159 

Reasons  for  historical  treatment 160 

Outline  of  the  subject 160 

II.  Beginnings  of  State  Taxes  and  the  State  Tax  Administration, 

1834-1860 161 

1.  Period  of  decentralization,  1 834- 1 838 i6i 

Iowa  given  a  civil  status,  1834 161 

Finances  prior  to  organization i6l 

Finances  of  the  territorial  period 162 

Early  state  finances 164 

2.  Period  of  limited  centralization,  185 1 167 

Innovations  of  the  Code  of  185 1 167 

Local  centralization ;  the  county  judge  system 170 

III.  The  Processes  of  Centralization  and  Decentralization,  185  i- 

1903 178 

1.  The  segregation  of  sources  0/ income 178 

Effects  of  segregation  generally 178 

Main  steps  in  the  development 178 

Peddler  and  insurance  taxes 178 

Taxes  on  particular  corporations 179 

Railroad  taxes  for  state  and  county  purposes 179 

Contested  by  the  cities 179 

Segregation  defeated ;   railroad  property  tax 179 

Segregation  continued  in  the  face  of  judicial  prohibition  .  180 

Final  blow  to  segregation  in  1899 1*82 

Recommendation  and  discussion      183 

Material  effects  of  segregation  in  Iowa 184 

Effects  of  the  taxes  on  peddlers 184 

Effects  of  the  special  corporation  taxes  ; 185 

Effects  of  the  inheritance  tax 187 

General  results  of  segregation 187 

2.  State  assessment 187 

The  place  of  state  assessment  in  Iowa  financial  development  .    ,    .  187 

State  assessment  of  the  value  of  bank  property 188 

State  assessment  of  railroad  property 188 

State  assessment  of  telegraph,  telephone  and  express  companies    .  189 

State  assesHnent  and  insurance  taxes 190 

Consummation  of  the  law  of  1900 190 

Advantages  of  state  assessment 191 


10  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  [jq 

PA6B 

3.  State  equalitation 191 

State  equalization  an  unperfected  expedient 191 

Main  steps  in  the  development 192 

Criticism  of  the  workings  of  the  state  equalization 194 

4.  State  control  of  local  administration 200 

a.  In  respect  of  general  taxation  and  finance 200 

Character  and  relations  of  the  process 200 

Means  advocated  in  the  past  to  improve  the  local  adminis- 
tration       202 

(1)  County  responsibility  for  state  funds 202 

(2)  Central  prescription  or  audit  of  local  accounts    .    .    .  206 
Local  finance  and  state  interest 207 

b.  In  respect  of  the  inheritance  tax 209 

The  first  law,  1896;  local  administration  uncontrolled     .    .    .  209 

The  law  amended,  1898;  a  degree  of  central  control  .    .    .    ,  210 

IV.  Correlation  of  the  Processes  of  Centralization 212 

Present  status  of  the  revenue  administration 212 

The  outlook  for  the  future 213 

With  present  laws  continued 213 

Under  changed  laws ;  possible  betterments 213 

CHAPTER  .VI. 

CONCLUSION. 

Two  cardinal  facts  in  the  administration 214 

Periods  of  development  in  centralization 215 

Comparison  with  other  states 215 

Methods  of  central  control 217 

Internal  organization  of  administrative  departments 218 

Economic  considerations 220 

The  future  of  administration  in  Iowa 221 

How  questions  of  central  control  arise  ;  the  inter-urban  railways   ...  221 

Constitutional  amendment  necessary 222 

Change  in  legislative  method 222 

Responsibility  of  the  political  party 222 


SPECIAL  ABBREVIATIONS. 
L.  =  Laws ;  L.  S.  B.  E.  =  Laws  of  the  State  Board  of  Education. 
D.  C.  C.  =  Debates  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1857. 
C.  J.  =  Council  Journal ;  H.  J.  =  House  Journal ;  S.  J.  =  Senate  Journal. 
S.  F.  =  Senate  Files ;  H.  F.  =  House  Files. 
S.  R.  =  Reports  of  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA :  ITS  BASIS  AND 
PROBLEMS 

The  problem  of  administration  in  Iowa  is  the  universal 
problem  of  the  American  State  of  to-day,  that  of  the  proper 
apportionment  of  powers  between  the  State  and  the  local 
government.  Responsibility,  efficiency  and  freedom  in  ad- 
ministration, this  is  the  triple  end  sought  in  the  efforts 
toward  improvement  of  government,  an  end  upon  the  attain- 
ment of  which  many  of  the  unrealized  ideals  of  democratic 
society  depend. 

There  is  little  in  the  institutions  of  Iowa  to  distinguish 
it  markedly  from  other  States.  In  the  years  preceding  1850 
it  had  the  characteristics  common  to  pioneer  government, 
many  that  two  hundred  years  before  had  stamped  the  sea- 
board colonies.  Penalties  for  refusal  to  serve  in  local 
offices,  meetings  of  the  townsfolk  to  regulate  their  local 
affairs,  viva  voce  voting  not  only  upon  minor  matters,  but 
upon  the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  their  early  Constitutions; 
through  this  familiar  stage  the  community,  with  the  laws 
and  traditions  that  it  had  inherited,  was  almost  bound  to 
pass.  Now  and  then  it  devised  governmental  machinery 
of  its  own,  such  as  that  embodied  in  the  firm  covenant  of 
the  Land  Claims  Associations,  but  usually  its  political  and 
social  inheritance  was  found  adequate  to  its  needs. 

The  broad  outline  of  the  government  of  to-day  is  sub- 
stantially that  of  the  second  year  of  its  independent  terri- 
torial existence.  The  territorial  government  as  first  organ- 
ized was  modeled  upon  the  Northwest  Ordinance  of  1787, 
11]  II 


1 2  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  FOWA  [12 

by  which  the  Governor  had  a  wide  appointing  and  the  abso- 
lute veto  powers.  But  the  great  friction  between  the  Gov- 
ernor and  the  Legislature,  which  led  to  a  petition  on  the 
part  of  the  Legislature  to  the  United  States  Congress  for 
a  change,  early  resulted  in  the  limitation  of  the  executive 
power.  However,  from  the  beginning  to  the  present  time 
the  Governor  has  almost  always  been  a  prominent  and  often, 
through  his  moral  influence,  almost  a  controlling  force  in 
the  State.  Legislatures  have  often  consulted  his  wishes, 
and  been  influenced  by  them  as  much  as  by  his  veto  power 
or  his  administrative  authority.  Such  direct  administrative 
power  as  he  has  possessed  has  been  confined  to  the  central 
State  interests.  Local  oflicers  and  local  interests  have,  ex- 
cept in  the  most  rare  instances,  depended  in  no  manner 
directly  upon  his  will,  as  they  have  at  times  in  Eastern 
States.  As  a  member  of  the  Executive  Council  and  of 
various  State  boards  and  commissions,  he  has  exerted  a 
strong  advisory  influence,  while  at  the  same  time  he  has 
participated  in  their  administrative  functions.  He  has  au- 
thority to  appoint  commissions  to  examine  the  books  and 
accounts  of  State  oflicers.  If  any  defalcation,  misappro- 
priation of  funds  or  improper  and  unsafe  keeping  of  books 
is  found  the  Governor  has  power  to  suspend  the  delinquent, 
and  it  would  seem  that  in  many  cases  the  suspension  might 
be  equivalent  to  a  removal.  This  power,  though  possessed 
since  1858,^  has  seldom  or  never  been  exercised.  At  the 
same  time  he  has  had  a  rather  limited  power  of  appointment 
which  he  has  exercised  alone,  with  a  branch  of  the  General 
Assembly  or  some  State  board  or  officer. 

By  his  side  is  a  central  executive  body  of  extensive 
powers,  the  Executive  Council.  Created  in  185 1  under  the 
name  of  the  Census  Board,  primarily  for  the  control  of  the 

»Z.,  1858,  c.  160;  Code,  1873,  §759;   Code,  1897,  §  ^^SP. 


1 3  ]  ITS  BASIS  AND  PROBLEMS  1 3 

State  census,  and  composed  of  the  heads  of  the  several  more 
important  departments,  and  indeed  including  the  Governor 
himself,  from  time  to  time  it  has  been  given  powers  which 
have  made  it  a  factor  in  almost  every  branch  of  the  State's 
administration.  Direct  administrative  power  or  wide  super- 
visory authority  have  in  many  cases  been  bestowed  upon  it. 
And  it  has  been  the  recipient  of  many  miscellaneous  duties 
which  the  Legislature,  as  though  at  a  loss  for  a  more  con- 
venient factotum,  has  often  referred  to  it.  Among  its  more 
important  powers  are  those  of  assessment  of  certain  corpo- 
rations and  general  equalization.  Certain  other  duties 
are  the  change  of  towns  to  cities  of  the  second  class,  and  of 
cities  of  the  second  class  to  those  of  the  first,  the  approval 
of  bank  depository  bonds,  the  making  of  appropriations  from 
the  providential  funds,  powers  with  reference  to  building 
and  loan  associations,  the  canvassing  of  State  election  re- 
turns, and  certain  appointive  powers. 

The  sphere  and  the  organs  of  city  government  have  been 
little  altered  from  their  early  character  because  of  the 
growing  population  or  changing  services.  There  have  been 
complaints  at  times  of  local  shortcomings,  but  they  were 
seldom  long  sustained,  and  the  instances  in  which  there  has 
been  any  very  significant  change  from  the  early  system,  in 
which  rule  of  the  city  was  by  a  council,  with  the  Mayor 
little  more  than  the  presiding  officer,  have  been  very  infre- 
quent. Such  changes  as  have  been  made  have  tended 
toward  the  increase  of  the  Mayor's  power.  In  1902  a  Civil 
Service  Commission  was  provided  for  the  city  of  Des 
Moines,  the  members  of  which  were  to  take  office  under  the 
Mayor's  appointment.  And  in  various  other  directions  his 
powers  have  been  extended.  Formerly  city  marshals  were 
elected  by  the  people.^      They  are  now  appointed  by  the 

1  Revised  Statutes,  i860,  §g  1103,  1106. 


1 4  AD  MINIS  TRA  TION  OF  10  ^ A  [  j  4 

Mayor,  as  are  policemen  and  police  matrons,  and  the  Council 
may  provide  other  offices  shall  be  filled  in  this  way.  Ap- 
pointive officers  in  cities  and  towns  hold  office  subject  to 
dismissal  for  cause  by  the  appointing  power. 

That  greater  change  has  not  taken  place  in  municipal 
government,  and  that  it  has  been,  if  not  brilliant,  seldom 
corrupt  and  often  satisfactory,  is  to  be  attributed  largely 
to  laws  of  the  fortunate  character  possessed  by  certain  pro- 
visions of  the  Constitution  of  1857.  While  in  many  in- 
stances early  city  charters  had  imposed  a  limit  upon  the 
borrowing  powers  of  the  city,  in  some  this  power  was  en- 
tirely unlimited,  the  only  condition  being  the  consent  of  a 
certain  per  cent,  of  the  electors.  However,  in  1857,  when 
the  new  Constitution  was  adopted,  the  indebtedness  of  mu- 
nicipal corporations  was  limited  to  five  per  cent,  on  the 
value  of  the  taxable  property  within  their  limits.^  The 
occasion  for  this  limitation  was  chiefly  the  large  debts  that 
had  been  contracted  by  local  divisions  in  the  aid  of  rail- 
ways.^ This  movement  did  not  get  under  way  in  the  other 
States  until  twenty  years  later. ^  In  this  Constitution  also 
Iowa  took  an  early  step  in  prohibiting  the  incorporation  of 
cities  and  towns  by  special  laws,*  though  this  has  been  to  a 
degree  evaded  by  the  familiar  device  of  municipal  classifi- 
cation and  general  legislation  for  the  single  class,  which 
class  has  sometimes  in  effect  comprised  but  a  single  city. 

These  few  facts  perhaps  suggest  what  may  be  described 
as  the  chief  characteristic  in  the  development  of  the  Iowa 
administration — that  of  an  even  progress,  a  gradual  growth 

»  Cons.,  1857,  art.  ii,  §2.  '  Sec  Gov,  Mess.,  1856,  pp,  13,  14. 

•  Henry  Wade  Rogers,  Municipal  Corporations,  in  Two  Centuries  Growth 
of  American  Law,  p.  242. 

*  Cons.,  1857,  art.  3,  §  30.  The  statement  in  Rogers,  op.  cit.,  p.  247,  that  Iowa 
led  the  way  in  this  matter  is  erroneous.  The  Constitution  of  1846  not  only  did 
not  prohibit  such  incorporation ;  it  expressly  sanctioned  it.     See  Art  8,  §  2. 


1 5  ]  ITS  BASIS  AND  PROBLEMS  I  5 

or  accumulation  of  strength  and  fitness,  rather  than  a  sud- 
den enlargement.  This,  though  a  somewhat  subjective  fac- 
tor, must  be  borne  in  mind  if  the  meaning  of  the  changes 
in  the  administration  and  their  results  are  to  be  compre- 
hended. There  have  been  a  few  deviations,  some — for 
instance  the  county  judge  administration  of  1851  and  the 
State  Board  of  Education  of  1857 — as  novel  experiments 
in  government  as  have  been  made  anywhere  in  the  United 
States,  but  as  a  rule  the  even  course  has  been  undisturbed. 
Politics,  industry  and  social  relations  have  been  characterized 
by  the  same  poise  and  natural  development.  There  have 
been  striking  exceptions  here  as  well ;  occasionally  a  factious 
struggle  has  become  virulent  and  disgraceful,  but  as  a 
generalization  the  truth  of  the  statement  will  hold.  Iowa 
has  grown  symmetrically  and  in  all  directions.  Nowhere 
IS  this  better  illustrated  than  in  the  growth  of  the  popula- 
tion. In  this  the  rural  districts  and  the  towns  both  have 
participated.  It  is  true  that  the  population  of  the  cities  shows 
a  tendency  to  increase  more  rapidly  than  that  of  the  rural 
districts,  but  the  very  fact  that  there  is  an  increase  in  the 
rural  population,  while  in  some  States  of  the  same  general 
character  as  Iowa,  notably  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Nebraska 
and  Kansas,  there  has  been  an  actual  decrease,  is  indicative 
of  conservative  tendencies.^  Moreover,  the  semi-urban 
population  has  increased  much  more  rapidly  than  the  urban,* 
a  fact  that  well  illustrates  the  pursuit  of  a  middle  course. 
Iowa  has  no  large  cities.  The  railroads  have  often  been 
blamed  for  this.  It  has  been  pointed  out  that  from  1870 
to  1890  the  net  increase  in  population  in  Illinois,  Wisconsin, 
Iowa  and  Minnesota,  except  in  the  new  section,  was  in 
towns  and  cities  that  were  given  competitive  rates,  while 

^  Twelfth  Census  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i,  p.  Ixxxix. 

*  Ibid,,  p.  xc.     In  the  decade,  1890-1900,  of  the  total  increase  in  the  State  the 
rural  population  counted  14.6,  the  urban  38.3,  and  the  semi-urban,  47.  i  per  cent. 


1 6  ADMINJSTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [ j 5 

all  those  having  non-competitive  rates  decreased  in  popula- 
tion.^ The  lack  of  large  commercial  or  manufacturing 
centres  is  ascribed  to  this,  and  as  a  further  consequence 
there  has  arisen  the  necessity  of  crossing  the  State  line  to 
market  a  large  part  of  the  produce.^  But  whatever  the 
force  of  this  argument,  the  State  has  been,  and  will  continue 
to  be,  primarily  agricultural,  and  the  manufacturing  me- 
tropolis is  not  likely  to  arise  within  its  borders.  The 
importance  of  this  fact  in  an  administrative  connection  will 
hardly  be  overestimated.  At  once  those  difficulties  which 
have  arisen  in  States  having  large  cities,  difficulties  that 
have  often  led  to  a  separate  and  distinct  administrative 
policy  for  such  cities,  are  eliminated.  The  State  adminis- 
tration becomes  a  unit;  what  is  applicable  in  one  part  is 
applicable  in  another.  In  New  York,  Ohio  and  Illinois  the 
larger  cities  have  strained  the  balance  of  government.  In 
Massachusetts  their  individuality  has  given  rise  to  differen- 
tiation. In  Iowa  these  things  have  not  been  known,  and  a 
symmetrical  administration  has  been  possible. 

But  the  essential  problem  of  administration  is  as  near  to, 
and  perhaps  as  far  from,  solution  in  Iowa  as  elsewhere. 
That  problem,  as  we  have  said,  is  one  of  responsibility,  effi- 
ciency and  independence  in  the  administration,  both  State  and 
local.  To  solve  it  there  is  necessary,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
careful  delimitation  of  the  sphere  of  the  State;  on  the  other, 
that  of  the  local  administration.  It  will  be  asked  in  what 
way  can  that  sphere  within  which  the  city  or  town  or  town- 
ship should  be  allowed  to  rule  itself  be  made  distinct,  so 
that  it  may  be  known  when  and  when  not  the  State  en- 
croaches upon  its  powers?  And  how  shall  the  State's  do- 
main of  authority  be  so  clearly  defined  that  the  local  division 

»  A.  B.  Stickney,  The  Railroad  Problem,  p.  62. 
>  F.  H.  Dixon,  State  Railroad  Control,  p.  204. 


1 7]  JTS  BASIS  AND  PROBLEMS  1 7 

when  acting  as  the  State's  agent  and  servant  shall  have  no 
excuse  for  perversion  of  that  agency  or  any  pretence  that  it 
is  acting  on  its  ov^n  behalf?  The  question  should  be 
answered  in  a  practical  way,  a  way  that  will  recommend 
itself  to  the  natural  processes  of  legislation.  And  that 
can  in  part  be  done.  Allow  the  State  to  attract  to  itself, 
and  itself  administer  those  powers  which  as  near  as  can  be 
told  appertain  to  it  as  the  State.  Permit  then  the  city  or 
local  division  to  exercise  untrammeled  the  authority  that, 
so  far  as  it  shall  appear,  belongs  to  it  as  the  local  govern- 
ment. Relieve  it  of  the  tutelage  of  the  interfering  Legis- 
lature. The  results  will  at  first  be  rough.  But  when  the 
true  line  of  cleavage  has  been  established  the  finer  adjust- 
ments can  be  made  with  little  difficulty. 

It  is  with  the  first  part  of  this  process  that  this  essay  has 
to  deal — the  degree  to  which  the  administration  of  the 
State's  powers  has  been  attracted  to  the  State's  hands.  This 
is  the  primary  task,  and  a  work  upon  which  the  State  has 
already  entered  and  accomplished  much.  And  as  the  State 
thus  becomes  stronger  in  its  own  authority,  gradually  there 
may  be  brought  home  to  it  a  knowledge  of  the  effects  and 
injustice  of  its  interference  in  affairs  purely  local.  For  the 
foundation  of  local  home  rule  already  exists ;  the  Legislature 
has  been  ordered  to  withdraw  where  it  has  made  too  great 
inroads.^  The  functions  of  the  State  and  the  functions  of 
the  municipality  have  their  distinctive  places  in  the  theory 
of  the  law,  but  much  is  to  be  done  before  they  shall  be 
brought  into  efficient  and  just  relations. 

In  thus  defining  the  scope  of  this  essay  it  becomes  obvious 
that  neither  State  government  nor  local  government  per  se 

»  State  vs.  Barker,  89  N.  W.,  204.  It  is  remarkable  that' this  case,  decided  in 
February,  1902,  was  the  first  in  which  the  position  of  the  city  and  its  relation  to  the 
State  was  defined.  Of  course,  many  preceding  cases  had  hinted  at  the  relation. 
See  State  vs.  Des  Moines^  103  la.,  76. 


1 8  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [jg 

is  to  be  discussed.  The  subject  matter  is  to  be  found  in 
the  intermediate  ground,  that  ground  where  both  the  State 
and  the  local  government  exercise  powers  of  administration, 
and,  primarily,  where  the  local  government  acts  as  the  agent 
of  the  State.  It  is  here  that  the  more  complex  problems  of 
administration  are  to  be  found,  and  it  is  this  ground  that 
must  be  cleared  before  the  full  definition  of  State  and  local 
authority  can  be  made.  Those  functions  which  are  indu- 
bitably State  or  local,  and  which  are  exercised  accordingly, 
will  not  be  touched,  except  incidentally,  though  in  them  there 
are  many  problems  of  surpassing  interest.  For  example,  the 
questions  of  State  expenditure,  or  State  budgetary  practice, 
or  the  construction  and  powers  of  the  Executive  Council,  or, 
on  the  other  hand,  in  municipal  government,  the  question 
of  the  relations  of  the  Mayor,  the  Council  and  local  boards 
and  officers;  these  subjects  all  invite  analysis  and  criticism, 
but  they  are  not  directly  within  the  scope  of  State  centrali- 
zation. The  subjects  that  will  be  treated  of  are  public 
education,  charities,  corrections  and  penal  institutions,  the 
public  health  and  safety,  and  public  finance  in  so  far  as  it 
concerns  State  income  and  income  administration. 


CHAPTER  II 

PUBLIC  EDUCATION 

I     Historical  Sketch  of  the  Administration  of  the 

Schools 

The  history  of  the  school  administration  of  Iowa  has  been 
one  of  development  in  both  the  local  and  the  central  divi- 
sions. The  chief  pov^ers  of  school  government  are,  and 
have  ever  been,  in  the  hands  of  the  local  school  officers,  in 
the  Boards  of  Trustees  and  directors.  It  is  not,  however, 
to  be  denied  that  the  central  authority  has  exercised  a  wide 
influence,  and  that  that  influence  has  been  exercised  through 
channels  of  efficient  control.  For  though  the  local  bodies 
have  been  shorn  of  little  of  their  powers,  though  indeed 
new  powers  have  been  given  them  from  time  to  time,  there 
yet  have  been  significant  accessions  of  authority  to  the  State 
administration.  When  new  functions  have  suggested  them- 
selves to  legislators  the  tendency  has  often  been  to  confer 
the  attendant  power  upon  the  State  rather  than  the  local 
instrument. 

In  examining  historically  the  development  of  the  school 
administration  in  Iowa  we  have  no  such  key  to  the  State 
control  as  is  found  in  those  States  that  have  made  school 
support  a  branch  of  the  State  finance.  The  support  of  the 
schools  in  general  has  been  left  to  the  townships,  towns, 
cities  and  counties.  The  school  fund  is  not  a  gratuity  of 
the  State,  though  the  State  acts  in  the  distribution  of  that 
fund.  It  is  rather  a  gift  of  the  National  Government,  for 
it  comes  from  the  public  lands,  and  is  expressly  conditioned 
19]  «9 


20  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [20 

Upon  devotion  to  the  use  of  public  instruction,  a  use  to  which 
the  State  has  pledged  its  honor  repeatedly  in  Constitutions 
and  statutes.  Moreover,  the  revenue  from  the  school  fund 
defrays  but  a  small  part  of  the  school  expenses.^  In  one 
field,  that  of  higher  education,  the  State  has  raised  and 
spent  its  bounty,  and  here  it  has  exercised  substantial  au- 
thority. Because  of  the  absence  of  State  aid,  then,  we 
should  not  be  surprised  if  the  centralization  were  very  weak 
indeed.  That  such  is  not  the  case,  that  there  is  a  fair  degree 
of  central  control,  must  therefore  be  imputed  to  other  forces. 
The  relation  of  the  central  authority  to  the  schools  begins 
soon  after  the  creation  of  the  territorial  government.  Laws 
were  on  the  statute  books  of  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  when 
Iowa  was  organized  as  a  part  of  those  territories  providing 
for  public  instruction,  but  the  Michigan  government  was 
absentee,  that  of  Wisconsin  hardly  immediate,  though  for 
a  season  Burlington  was  its  territorial  capital;  and  this, 
together  with  the  fact  that  there  was  practically  no  school 
population  at  this  early  date,  makes  consideration  of  these 
laws  needless.  In  fact,  until  about  1854  there  was  relatively 
little  material  and  little  need  for  schools.^ 


Annual 

Annual 

»Year. 

Expenditures. 

Interest  of 
Permanent  Fund. 

Year. 

Expenditures. 

Interest  of 
Permanent  Fund. 

1849 

44,738 

6,138 

1880 

4,921,249 

282,903 

1854 

121,965 
655.938 

50.155 

1885 

6,054,313 

248,260 

i860 

142,151 

1890 

6,710.317 

266,338 

1865 

1,265,667 

138,840 

1895 

8,317,875 

235.663 

1870 

3,043,420 

238,356 

1900 

9,028,918 

118,700 

1875 

4,605,749 

318,997 

1901 

9,321,652 

108,94a 

•  Cf.  Jesse  Macy,  Institutional  Beginnings  in  a  Western  State,  in  Johns 
Hopkins  Univ.  Studies  in  Hist,  and  Pol.  Science y  vol.  ii,  pp.  365,  366.  It 
would  be  erroneous  to  assume  that  all  the  schools  were  private  and  none  public  in 
the  early  history  of  the  State.  The  report  of  the  territorial  superintendent  in  1841 
is  sufficient  evidence  to  the  contrary.     See  C.  J.,  1841-43,  pp.  280  et  seq. 


2 1  ]  PUBLIC  ED  UCA  HON  2  r 

The  central  authority  was  disposed  to  assert  its  interest 
in  the  schools  from  the  first.  Nothing  could  witness  this 
more  clearly  than  the  message  of  the  first  territorial  Gover- 
nor. On  November  12,  1838,  he  sent  his  first  message  to 
the  Legislative  Assembly,  and  his  initial  recommendation 
concerned  the  welfare  of  the  schools.  He  urged  that  a  law 
be  passed  immediately  for  the  organization  of  townships 
and  the  election  of  township  officers,  for  "  without  proper 
township  regulation,''  he  said,  **  it  will  be  extremely  difficult, 
if  in  fact  not  impracticable,  to  establish  a  regular  school 
system."  And  later  on  in  his  message  the  Governor  was 
not  entirely  ingenuous  when  he  announced,  "  There  is  no 
subject  to  which  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  more  emphat- 
ically than  the  subject  of  establishing  ...  a  well  digested 
system  of  common  schools."  When  preparing  the  message 
he  had  told  his  private  secretary  that  the  prime  object  of  that 
recommendation  was  to  attract  settlers,  and  had  acknowl- 
edged that  the  territory  was  not  ready  for  and  not  in  need 
of  a  school  system.^  However,  the  recommendation  was 
taken  at  its  face  value,  and  with  at  least  equal  good  faith 
the  first  Legislative  Assembly  proceeded  to  enact  an  elabo- 
rate law  for  a  system  of  school  officers  and  school  organi- 
zation. 

The  law  of  the  first  session  made  no  provision  for  State 
or  county  control;  it  instituted  a  condition  of  remarkable 
local  decentralization.^  The  directors  themselves  were 
given  the  powers  of  examining  the  teachers,  and  were  au- 
thorized to  lease  the  lands  belonging  to  the  district.  There 
was  little  or  no  limit  on  their  authority,  though  they  were 
required  to  report  to  the  county  commissioners.  But  the 
act  was  tentative,  and  so  too  great  significance  is  not  to  be 

1  Proceedings  of  Seventh  Reunion  of  the  Pioneer  Lawmakers'  Association  of 
Iowa,  p.  24. 

>Z.,  1838-9,  Act  June  i,  1839.     • 


2 2  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [22 

attached  to  it.  It  met  a  primitive  condition.  In  a  day  of 
rude  beginnings  it  introduced  rude  measures.  For  instance, 
under  it  taxes  might  be  levied  for  school  purposes  "  in  cash, 
or  good  merchantable  produce  at  cash  prices."  Thus  it 
was  not  intended  to  be  enduring,  and  the  decentralization 
that  formed  its  basis  was  not  a  principle,  but  an  expedient. 
The  next  year  saw  a  complete  change.  A  territorial 
superintendent  was  created  and  township  school  inspectors 
provided  for,  to  whom  were  transferred  several  of  the  more 
important  functions  previously  enjoyed  by  the  school  di- 
rectors.^ Under  the  law  of  1839  the  school  directors  might 
make  application  to  the  county  commissioners  for  the  organ- 
ization of  their  districts;  now  the  school  inspectors  were 
vested  with  full  power  to  set  off  the  districts,  settle  their 
boundaries  and  change  them  as  they  pleased,  later  even  to 
form  districts  covering  adjoining  townships,  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  school  inspectors  of  such  townships.^  They 
were  given  the  power  to  examine  teachers,  a  power  that 
was  thus,  with  exceptions  of  little  moment,^  lost  to  the 
school  directors.  The  duty  of  visiting  the  schools  was 
imposed  upon  them.  They  exercised  a  very  important 
financial  function,  applying  to  the  county  treasurer  for  the 
portion  of  the  school  money  due  their  township  and  securing 
from  the  township  collector  the  funds  collected  by  him  for 
school  purposes,  which  they  then  apportioned  to  the  several 
districts.  The  powers  vested  in  the  school  inspectors  were 
in  part  original  to  their  office,  in  a  slight  measure  conferred 
at  the  expense  of  the  county  commissioners,  in  a  large 
measure  at  the  expense  of  the  school  districts  and  school 
directors.  The  creation  of  the  office  was  of  signal  import- 
ance, for  it  meant  that  the  school  system  was  not  to  be 
confirmed  in  local  autonomy,  but  that  a  way  was  to  be 

»Z.,  1839-40,  c.  73.  •  z.,  1846-47.  c.  99-  *  ^t  1856-57,  c.  158. 


23]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  2$ 

Opened  for  what  might  develop  into  a  degree  either  of 
semi-local  or  State  administration.  It  proved  to  be  the 
avenue  to  the  former,  the  county  administration,  a  fact  not 
surprising  when  it  is  recognized  that  the  county  has  played 
perhaps  the  leading  role  in  the  political  development  of 
this  agricultural  and  therefore  largely  rural  people. 

The  township  school  inspector  system  was  unique  in  many 
ways.  If  the  school  inspector  was  a  precursor  of  the 
county  school  fund  commissioner,  and  so  of  the  county 
superintendent  of  schools,  he  was  none  the  less  a  forerunner 
of  the  authority  that  grew  up  in  the  later  township  district. 
And  for  a  short  period  his  powers  were  susceptible  of 
becoming  quite  autocratic,  for  from  1841  to  1847  ^e  was 
under  no  compulsion  save  that  exercised  in  the  almost  casual 
influence  of  the  territorial  Legislature. 

The  Territorial  Superintendent  of  Public  Education  cre- 
ated at  this  time,  an  office  that  was  to  endure  but  a  year, 
however,  was  not  given  strong  powers.  It  was  rather  a 
supplementary  office,  hence  its  creation  did  not  signify  the 
adoption  of  a  policy  of  centralization.  The  superintendency 
under  the  State  government  has  been  at  no  time  so  weak 
legally  as  was  this.  The  powers  were  few.*  The  Superin- 
tendent was  to  visit  the  schools,  issue  instructions  for  the 
organization  of  school  districts,  provide  the  form  for  the 
teachers'  certificates,  though  their  examination  was  left  en- 
tirely to  the  school  inspectors,  apportion  the  interest  of  the 
school  fund — a  fund  that  was  practically  non-existent  at 
this  time — and  report  to  the  Legislature.  But  in  the  hands 
of  the  man  first  appointed  to  this  office,  the  appointment 
being  by  the  Governor  with  the  consent  of  the  Council,  even 
these  weak  powers  were  made  much  of,  and  the  schools  set 
on  the  road  of  progress.* 

1  Z.,  1840,  c.  46.  »  See  S.  R.,  1895,  p.  213. 


24  ADMimS TEA TION  OF  IOWA  [24 

The  work  necessary  at  this  time  was  organization  of  the 
school  districts,  instruction  in  and  interpretation  of  the 
school  laws.  In  many  places  school  districts  had  failed  of 
organization,  in  many  townships  school  inspectors  had  not 
even  been  elected,  and  all  because  the  law  was  not  known 
to  exist,  or,  if  known,  not  understood.  A  crusade  of  in- 
formation and  organization  was  inaugurated  by  the  super- 
intendent, and  much  was  achieved  by  him  in  his  brief 
career.^  A  little  further  assistance  and  authority  was 
asked,  in  order  to  carry  the  work  forward,  but  the  House 
Committee  on  Public  Instruction  in  January,  1842,  in  the 
face  of  this  evident  need,  brought  in  a  report  for  abolish- 
ment, saying,  "  This  officer,  in  the  opinion  of  your  com- 
mittee, is  unnecessary.  They  therefore  recommend  that 
this  office  be  abolished."  *  From  the  face  of  the  report  it 
would  appear  that  the  superintendent's  salary  of  $250  per 
annum  was  deemed  an  extravagance.  The  office  was  abol- 
ished the  month  following.® 

There  have  been  few  steps  in  the  history  of  the  State 
L^islature  more  reprehensible  than  was  this.  It  was  dis- 
tinctly a  step  in  retreat.  The  result  was  not  decentralization 
so  much  as  demoralization.  Under  the  law  abolishing  the 
office  it  was  provided  that  the  reports  of  the  clerks  of  the 
Boards  of  County  Commissioners,  embodying  an  abstract 
of  the  returns  made  to  them  by  the  school  inspectors,  should 
be  transmitted  to  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  the  territory. 
Hitherto  these  reports  had  been  sent  to  the  Superintendent. 
The  effect  was  simply  to  render  the  provision  for  reports 
entirely  nugatory  and  to  remove  practically  all  central  over- 
sight and  supervision,  for  it  does  not  appear  that  these 
reports  were  ever  made  to  the  Legislature  or  that,  if  made, 

» s.  R.,  c.  y.,  1841-42,  p.  281. 

« H,  y.,  1841-42,  p.  132.  » L.,  1841-42,  p.  108. 


25] 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION 


they  were  ever  examined  by  it.  If  the  Legislative  Assembly- 
exercised  any  control  it  v^as  desultory  and  unmeaning*. 
Not  until  the  State  was  admitted  into  the  Union  was  a  gen- 
eral superintendency  again  created. 

The  greatest  harm  in  this  policy,  a  harm  that  was  scarcely- 
remedied  in  a  score  of  years,  was  the  check  it  gave  to  school 
organization.  At  the  moment  when  every  care  should  have 
been  given  to  direct  the  struggling  feet  all  guidance  was 
removed,  so  that  in  message  after  message  the  stock  com- 
plaint of  the  Governors  became  just  this,  that  because  of 
supineness  of  school  officers,  or  the  permissive  character  of 
the  laws,  or  failure  to  understand  them,  the  districts  were 
not  organizing,  and  the  school  system  was  becoming  a  cause 
for  mortification.^  The  later  territorial  Governors,  how- 
ever, did  not  mention  the  matter  in  their  messages.  Appa- 
rently they  had  given  up  in  disgust.  But  the  conscience  of 
the  Legislature  began  to  quicken,^  and  before  the  State  was 
formed  there  was  readiness  for  reform,  so  that  the  provi- 
sion for  the  State  superintendency  was  easily  introduced 
into  the  State  Constitution. 

To  the  school  system  the  admission  of  the  State  in  1846, 
the  Constitution  and  the  early  State  laws  meant  reconstruc- 
tion, and  now  until  1857,  when  the  second  Constitution  was 
adopted,  the  school  system  underwent  a  peculiar  develop- 
ment, a  period  of  growth,  but  of  growth  stunted  somewhat 
by  the  division  of  interests  and  responsibilities  of  those 
designated  to  administer  it.  In  this  period  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  school  fund  shared  the  time  of  State  and 
county  school  officers  with  the  administration  of  school 
matters  proper.  The  pivotal  point  of  the  school  system 
in  fact  was  the  administration  of  this  fund.     Either  the 

»  Gov.  Mfs.,  H.  y.,  1841-42,  p.  14 ;  C.  %  1842-43,  pp,  10,  11 ;  C.  J.,  1843- 
44,  pp.  a,  10. 

2  H,  y.,  i845,p.  >64- 


26  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [26 

legislators  of  the  day  seemed  to  have  lost  sight  of  the  real 
interests  of  the  schools  in  their  zeal  to  take  speedy  care  of 
the  beneficence  of  the  National  Government,  or  they  thought 
that  here  was  thje  vital  point  of  the  school  machinery,  and 
that  once  it  was  put  in  working  order  the  entire  body  would 
move  of  itself/     So  they  neglected  its  other  parts. 

The  school  fund  as  constituted  at  this  time  was  derived 
from  the  public  lands,  comprising  the  sixteenth  section  of 
every  congressional  township,  an  additional  500,000  acres, 
together  with  five  per  cent,  on  all  the  revenue  derived  from 
the  public  lands  within  the  State.  The  State  University 
had  a  fund  of  its  own,  derived  from  two  sections  of  the 
public  lands.  As  an  addition  to  the  general  fund  the  Con- 
stitution of  1846  provided  that  moneys  paid  as  exemptions 
from  military  duty  and  the  clear  proceeds  of  all  fines  col- 
lected in  the  several  counties  for  any  breach  of  the  penal 
laws  should  be  "  exclusively  applied  in  the  several  counties 
in  which  such  money  is  paid  or  fine  collected."  ^  Legisla- 
tion and  gifts  from  the  National  Government  at  various 
times  augmented  this  fund  slightly.^  The  balance  of  the 
school  revenue  was  derived  from  taxation,  and  until  the 
free  school  law  of  1858  was  passed  the  amount  required  of 

*  It  is  quite  evident  that  much  more  was  expected  of  the  school  fund  than  ever 
came  of  it.  The  House  Committee  on  Public  Instruction  in  1842  in  a  report,  said 
that  they  were  "  gratified  to  say  that  they  can  see,  in  advance,  means  within  the 
power  of  the  Legislature,  if  properly  husbanded  to  create  a  permanent  fund  of  an 
amount  which,  in  a  few  years,  may  be  sufficient  for  all  objects  of  a  Primary  School. 
"  This  fund  the  Committee  propose  to  create  by  the  collection  and  funding  in  the 
hands  of  the  Territorial  Treasurer,  all  moneys  arising  from  fines,  forfeitures,  and 
any  violations  of  the  penal  laws  of  the  Territory,  from  drifted  water  craft,  lost 
goods,  estrays,  escheats,  and  the  portions  of  money  to  which  the  Territory  is  en- 
titled under  the  act  of  Congress  distributing  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public 
lands."     H.  J.,  1841-42,  p.  132. 

»  Cons.,  1846,  art.  9,  §4. 

»  Z.,  1848-49,  c.  99,  added  all  funds  arising  from  sale  of  water  craft,  lost  goods 
and  estrays,  to  be  paid  to  the  county  in  which  they  had  accrued. 


27]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  2/ 

each  taxpayer  was  to  a  large  extent  determined  by  the  num- 
ber of  his  children  in  the  schools/  Until  that  time  the 
interest  from  the  permanent  fund  did  indeed  equal  about 
one-third  of  the  school  expenditure.  The  importance  given 
to  the  administration  of  the  fund  thus  had  some  justification. 
The  Constitution  of  1846  provided  for  a  State  Superin- 
tendent to  be  elected  for  a  term  of  two  years. ^  The  first 
session  of  the  State  Legislature,  now  denominated  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  provided  in  detail  for  this  office  and  for  a 
new  body  of  county  school  officers  called  county  school  fund 
commissioners.^  The  financial  functions  of  the  State  officer 
were  quite  as  pronounced  as  those  of  the  county  commis- 
sioners, so  that  harmony  in  description  might  have  been 
subserved  had  the  Superintendent  been  styled  what  in  fact 
he  really  was,  the  State  school  fund  commissioner.  The 
county  school  fund  commissioner  was  provided  primarily 
for  the  local  handling  and  management  of  the  school  funds 
and  lands.  And  until  the  discontinuance  of  the  office  of 
school  inspector  in  1849,*  when  the  functions  of  such  office 
were  in  a  large  measure  conferred  upon  him,'^  he  was  little 

>  For  example,  see  Z.,  1839-40,  c.  73  ;  Z.,  1845-46,  c.  11. 

'  The  provision  as  originally  introduced  by  the  Committee  on  Education  and 
School  Lands  in  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1846,  provided  for  a  Superin- 
tendent to  be  elected  by  the  Legislature  for  a  term  of  three  years.  Journal 
of  the  Constitutional  Convention^  1846,  p.  46. 

•Z.,  1846-47,  c.  99, 

*  Z.,  1848-49,  c.  99.  Until  1847  ^^cre  had  been  three  school  inspectors  in  each 
township  ;  by  c.  99  of  the  laws  of  that  year  the  number  was  reduced  to  one. 

»  He  was  not,  however,  given  the  power  to  examine  teachers,  or  visit  the  schools. 
The  former  power  was  again  confided  to  the  school  directors.  The  latter  was 
exercised  by  the  State  Superintendent  and  school  directors.  The  school  fund 
commissioner's  powers  were  not  so  arbitrary  with  respect  to  the  determination  of 
the  boundaries  of  school  districts  as  had  been  those  of  the  school  inspectors,  and 
in  some  sense  they  were  entirely  taken  from  him.  Z.,  1856-57,  c.  158.  With 
the  legislation  of  1858  the  control  of  the  district  boundaries  was  lodged  with  the 
school  units.     Z.,  1858,  c.  52;  Z.  S.  B.  E.,  Dec.  24,  1858. 


28  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [28 

more  than  a  financial  administrator.  Yet  these  added 
powers  affected  only  slightly  his  real  work  and  the  estima- 
tion in  which  he  was  held.  To  the  end  he  was  held  in 
popular  and  in  legislative  regard  as  primarily  a  financial 
agent,  and  as  such  was  under  the  cloud  of  constant  public 
criticism. 

Theoretically  the  relation  of  school  fund  commissioner 
and  State  Superintendent  during  this  period  was  as  follows : 
The  active  management  of  the  school  lands  and  funds  was 
to  be  undertaken  by  the  county  school  fund  commissioners ; 
they  were  to  oversee  the  sale  of  the  lands,  the  investment  of 
the  funds  and  the  apportionment  of  interest  among  the  dis- 
tricts within  their  several  counties ;  the  State  Superintendent 
was  to  exercise  a  directory  power  merely.^  But  practically 
there  were  many  contradictions  in  the  system.^  As  a  single 
illustration,  the  State  Superintendent  was  designated  as  the 
proper  authority  for  the  receipt  of  the  five  per  cent,  fund, 
and  though  he  was  enjoined  to  apportion  it  to  the  counties 
immediately,  and  not  allow  it  to  remain  in  his  hands,  he  did 
not  always  do  this.  The  endeavor  on  the  part  of  one  super- 
intendent himself  to  loan  this  fund  was  perhaps  as  instru- 
mental as  anything  in  putting  an  end  to  the  system^  The 
result  was  confusion.  There  was  division  of  responsibility, 
at  one  time  at  least  four  different  classes  of  officers,  viz., 
the  State  Superintendent,  the  school  fund  commissioners, 
the  State  Treasurer  and  school  inspectors,  having  to  do  with 
the  temporary  or  permanent  care  of  some  part  of  the  school 

»Z.,  1846-47,  c.  96;  c.  III. 

2  In  some  cases  the  proceeds  of  the  county  school  taxes  had  been  loaned.  To 
correct  the  results  of  this  misunderstanding  the  State  Superintendent  was  empow- 
ered in  all  such  cases  to  order  that  they  be  refunded.  Z.,  1848-49,  c.  59.  There 
was  a  similar  misunderstanding  concerning  the  five  per  cent,  fund. 

»  Cy:  L.  F.  Parker,  Higher  Education  in  Iowa,  p.  28,  and  see  Z.,  1856-57,  c. 
162;  c.  187  ;  Joint  Resolution,  No.  2. 


29]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  29 

moneys.^  This  meant  uncertainty,  and  a  hazy  responsibility 
as  between  custodians.  Then  in  the  accounts  of  the  officers 
themselves  there  was  confusion,  so  pronounced  in  the  case 
of  the  State  Superintendent  and  school  fund  commissioners 
that  legislative  interference  became  imperative. 

The  system  of  school  fund  commissioners  was  assailed 
from  the  outset,  and  continually  by  the  State  Superintend- 
ents. It  was  costly  to  the  schools,  the  expenses  and  pay  of 
the  commissioners  being  defrayed  from  the  school  revenue, 
and  by  that  much  reducing  the  school  support.  The  Gov- 
ernors united  with  the  superintendents  in  urging  a  change,* 
and  when  it  was  shown  on  investigation  that  many  of  the 
commissioners  were  dishonest,  many  absolutely  incompe- 
tent, that  in  numerous  instances  their  accounts  were  inextri- 
cably involved  or  wholly  incomplete,  that  in  some  cases  the 
commissioners  had  accepted  purely  "  ideal "  tracts  of  land 
as  part  of  the  school  domain,  or  loaned  school  assets  on  sec- 
ond and  third  encumbrances,  the  State  was  ready  for  a 
change.  The  superintendents  had  protested  as  well  against 
the  continuance  of  their  own  financial  functions  as  giving 
them  little  time  for  proper  attention  to  other  school  duties. 
A  mere  rehearsal  of  the  superintendent's  duties  in  one  year 
of  the  period  will  almost  of  itself  convict  the  system.  In 
1850  the  superintendent's  duties  were  as  follows:  He  must 
supervise  the  establishment  of  schools,  lecture  in  the  several 
counties  and  districts,  confer  with  school  officers,  receive 
and  file  all  papers,  reports  and  public  documents  transmitted 
to  him,  prepare  and  transmit  blanks  for  reports,  attend  to  the 
organization  of  the  University  and  Normal  Schools,  make 
rules  and  regulations  for  the  benefit  of  school  officers,  con- 

*  And  in  185 1  the  governor  was  given  power  to  make  such  regulations  as  he 
might  think  proper  for  the  protection  against  waste  of  the  school  lands  in  the  unor- 
ganized  counties.     Z.,  1850-51,  Joint  Res.^  No.  32. 

>  Gov.  Mess,,  1858,  p.  7  ;  S.  R..  1850,  pp.  169,  170. 


30  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [-30 

duct  the  official  and  miscellaneous  correspondence,  record 
and  report  all  the  proceedings  of  his  office,  and  "  perform 
generally  such  duties  as  may  tend  to  advance  the  interests 
of  education."  These  were  school  functions  properly  so 
called.  They  were  performed  without  the  aid  of  a  deputy 
and  with  little  clerical  assistance.  Add  to  them  a  duty  in 
the  selection  and  sale  of  the  school  lands,  apportionment  of 
the  interest  of  the  school  fund,  collection  and  distribution  of 
the  five  per  cent,  fund,  the  adjustment  of  land  titles,  certain 
duties  in  the  investment  of  the  school  funds,  and  periodical 
examination  of  the  accounts  of  the  school  fund  commis- 
sioners, and  it  needs  no  argument  to  show  that  not  all  the 
duties  would  be  performed,  and  that  many  of  them  would 
be  performed  very  inefficiently.  In  the  nature  of  the  case  a 
change  must  have  been  pending,  and  it  is  little  wonder  that 
the  change  when  it  was  made  was  not  merely  in  the  statutes 
of  the  State,  but  that  it  became  a  part  of  its  constitutional 
law. 

The  most  fruitful  years  in  the  history  of  the  Iowa  schools 
and  the  Iowa  school  administration  are  the  years  1857  and 
1858.  Then  was  laid  the  foundation  of  the  present  system. 
In  1856  a  Commission  for  the  Revision  of  the  School  Laws, 
composed  of  Amos  Dean,  a  prominent  scholar  and  educator, 
and  then  dean  of  the  Albany  Law  School,  and  the  famous 
Horace  Mann,^  made  a  report  rich  in  suggestions  for  bet- 
terment. Its  most  pregnant  recommendations  were  those 
for  a  county  superintendent  of  schools,  for  free  schools,  and 
a  township  district  system,  measures  that  were  all,  with  the 
exception  of  the  last,  realized  within  two  years.  The  town- 
ship district  in  its  pure  form,  as  recommended  by  the  Com- 
mission, was  not  adopted,  but  a  compromise  system,  whereby 

*  Mr.  F.  E.  Bissell,  afterwards  Attorney-General,  had  been  named  as  a  mem- 
ber of  this  Commission,  but  did  not  act.  For  contemporary  opinion  of  the  report 
of  the  Commission  see  Dubuque  Express  and  Herald^  Jan.  15,  1857. 


3 1  ]  PUBLIC  ED  UCA  TION  3 1 

the  original  school  districts  became  sub-districts  of  the 
larger  township  unit,  and  a  single  director  from  each  elected 
in  each  of  such  sub-districts  constituted  the  township  board, 
secured  the  consent  of  the  Legislature. 

In  the  Constitution  of  1857  it  was  provided  that  "the 
financial  agents  of  the  school  fund  shall  be  the  same  that, 
by  law,  receive  and  control  the  State  and  county  revenue, 
for  other  civil  purposes,  under  such  regulations  as  may  be 
provided  by  law."  ^  And  thus  the  educational  was  perma- 
nently separated  from  the  financial  administration  of  the 
schools.  But  one  other  provision  in  this  Constitution  de- 
layed for  a  period  of  six  years  the  full  entrance  upon  the 
present  order.  The  State  was  to  undergo  a  further  experi- 
ment. The  Constitution  created  a  new  organ  of  govern- 
ment called  the  State  Board  of  Education,  a  separate  and 
distinct  Legislature  for  school  matters!  It  was  the  intro- 
duction of  a  fourth  element  of  government,  a  body  to  which 
either  the  term  Council  or  Legislature  might  be  applied,  for 
it  might  enact  laws,  it  might  through  its  secretary  exercise 
a  broad  ordinance  power,  and  these  laws  and  ordinances 
once  promulgated,  it  could,  at  the  hands  of  its  executive 
officer,  secure  their  enforcement.  It  is  to  be  doubted  if  the 
colonial  or  State  history  of  America  since  the  "  Fundamental 
Constitutions  "  of  John  Locke  and  the  Carolinas  affords  a 
more  unique  organ  of  civil  government  than  was  this.  It 
must  be  placed  among  the  curiosities  of  modern  institutions 
where  abide  the  Swiss  Landesgemeinde  or  those  wrought 
by  the  curious  relations  of  Croatia  to  the  dominant  Magyars 
in  the  Hungarian  constitutional  system.  It  will  be  impos- 
sible here  to  give  it  the  attention  that  it  deserves,  for  the 
reason  that  it  has  little  significance  in  the  schools.     Yet  so 

*  Cons.,  1857,  Art.  9,  Sub-div.  2,  §6.     The  creation  of  a  state  land  office  at 
this  time  added  facilities  for  the  care  of  the  school  lands. 


32  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [32 

eloquent  is  it  of  the  inventiveness  of  the  poHtical  mind  of 
an  American  commonwealth  that  it  should  not  go  unnoticed. 
The  State  Board  of  Education  ^  was  composed  of  the 
Lieutenant  Governor,  who  was  the  presiding  officer,  with  a 
casting  vote  in  case  of  a  tie,  one  member  to  be  elected  from 
each  of  the  judicial  districts  in  the  State,  of  which  at  this 
time  there  were  eleven,^  and  the  Governor  ex  officio.  The 
qualifications  for  election  were  made  the  same  as  those  for 
State  Senators,  citizenship  of  the  State  for  one  year,  and  the 
attainment  of  the  twenty-fifth  year.  The  sessions  of  the 
board  were  to  be  held  annually,  not  to  continue  longer  than 
twenty  days,  except  upon  extraordinary  occasions,  when 
upon  the  recommendation  of  two-thirds  of  the  board  the 
Governor  might  order  a  special  session.  The  board  was 
to  appoint  a  secretary,  who  should  be  its  executive  officer, 
and  "  perform  such  duties  as  may  be  imposed  upoii  him  by 
the  board  and  the  laws  of  the  State."  With  respect  to 
powers,  the  Constitution  provided,  "  The  board  of  educa- 
tion shall  have  full  power  and  authority  to  legislate  and 
make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  in  relation  to  common 
schools,  and  other  educational  institutions,  that  are  insti- 
tuted, to  receive  aid  from  the  school  or  university  fund  of 
this  State;  but  all  acts,  rules  and  regulations  of  said  board 
may  be  altered,  amended  or  repealed  by  the  General  Assem- 
bly, and  when  so  altered,  amended  or  repealed  they  shall  not 
be  re-enacted  by  the  board  of  education."  But  it  was 
stipulated  that  "  the  board  shall  have  no  power  to  levy  taxes 
or  make  appropriations  of  money."  A  majority  constituted 
a  quorum  for  the  transaction  of  business,  but  no  rule  or  law 
could  pass  without  the  concurrence  of  a  majority  of  all  the 

*  For  the  full  law  on  the  composition  and  powers  of  the  Board  see  Cons.y  1857, 
art.  5,  §§  1-15. 

>  Cons.,  1857,  art.  5,  §  10. 


33]  PUBLIC  ED  UCA  TION  ^^ 

members.  However,  a  law  once  so  passed  could  not  be 
disturbed  by  veto.^ 

The  board  was  not  made  a  permanent  body.  It  was 
recognized  by  members  of  the  constitutional  convention  and 
others  that  imagination  or  pure  reason,  and  not  precedents, 
were  the  fabrics  from  which  this  new  creation  was  made,^ 
and  that  the  experiment  might  fail ;  therefore  a  way  was  left 
open  for  retreat.  It  was  provided  that  after  1863  the 
General  Assembly  should  have  power  to  abolish  or  reor- 
ganize it,  and  provide  for  the  educational  interests  of  the 
State  in  any  way  they  should  think  best  and  proper. 

The  purpose  of  the  board's  creation,  as  expressed  by  its 
author  in  the  constitutional  convention,  was  shared  by  the 
majority  of  the  delegates.  He  said  that  it  was  his  desire 
to  take  education  entirely  out  of  the  power  of  the  General 
Assembly  and  put  it  in  the  safe  keeping  of  another  body 
**  who  will  better  represent  the  interests  of  the  people.  I 
am  for  putting  it  into  the  hands  of  a  body  that  shall  have 
no  control  over  the  funds,  and  which  cannot  possibly  be 
influenced  by  partisan  considerations  .  .  .  their  whole  and 

^  In  the  original  report  made  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1857,  in  which 
the  board  was  projected,  there  was  no  provision  fona  veto  power.  But  on  Feb.  27, 
1857,  motion  was  made  by  its  author  for  an  additional  section  providing  that  ses- 
sions of  the  board  should  not  be  held  during  the  sessions  of  the  General  Assembly, 
that  the  Governor  should  attend  sessions  of  the  board,  but  have  no  vote,  but  that 
he  might  exercise  a  veto  power  upon  "  all  acts,  rules  and  regulations  passed  by  the 
board  in  the  same  manner  as  provided  for  acts  of  the  general  assembly."  The 
author  of  the  motion  explained  on  request  that  it  should  take  a  two  thirds  vote  to 
overrule.  This  motion  was  put  and  agreed  to.  Motion  to  reconsider  was  made 
on  February  27,  the  mover  contending  that  it  should  require  but  a  majority  to  defeat 
the  veto  of  the  Governor.  But  in  later  action  all  of  this  was  changed  and,  as  a 
compromise  to  an  opposition  that  developed,  the  Governor  was  made  an  ex  officio 
member  of  the  board  without  the  veto  power,  but  with  no  limitation  upon  his  right 
to  vote.     See  D.  C.  C,  vol.  ii,  pp.  838  ef  seq. 

2  One  member  of  the  convention  referred  to  it  as  a  "  new-fangled  scheme." 
D.  C,  C,  vol.  ii,  p.  943. 


34  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  T^a 

individual  attention  will  be  given  to  the  benefit  and  improve- 
ment of  the  educational  system  of  the  State."  ^  The  ambi- 
tion was  laudable,  but  the  handiwork  was  of  the  crudest 
The  issues  among  the  delegates  in  the  convention  were 
framed  not  upon  the  feasibility  of  its  existence,  but  upon 
the  definition  of  its  powers  and  its  relations  to  the  other 
organs  of  the  government,^  a  controversy  premonitory  of 
the  friction  with  these  organs  that  was  to  prove  the  burden 
of  its  history  and  finally  bring  about  its  fall. 

The  conflict  of  jurisdiction  between  the  General  Assem- 
bly and  the  State  Board  of  Education  was  under  way  even 
before  the  board  met.  In  January,  1858,  the  first  session 
of  the  General  Assembly  under  the  new  Constitution  took 
place,  but  the  board  was  not  convened  until  the  December 
next  following.  Members  of  the  General  Assembly  be- 
lieved the  State  to  be  without  a  law  in  reference  to  the 
schools,  save  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution.  This 
threatened  the  State  with  the  suspension  of  the  schools  for 
a  year,  and  the  Legislature,  as  in  duty  bound,  passed  a  well- 
considered  school  law,  under  which  all  the  schools  went  into 
operation.^  The  legality  of  this  law  was  disputed,  and  on 
the  threshold  of  the  board's  first  meeting  the  Supreme  Court 
pronounced  it  unconstitutional,*  and  declared  that  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  had  trespassed  upon  the  peculiar  province 
of  the  board.  It  did  not  state  in  terms  wherein  the  uncon- 
stitutionality lay,  but  the  decision  was  almost  an  admission 
that  it  was  impossible  to  define  clearly  the  boundary  where 

*Z?.  C.  C.,p.  751.  The  publicopinion  of  the  board  upon  its  establishment  and 
during  its  first  year  or  two  was  high.  A  newspaper  of  the  day  spoke  of  it  as  a  body 
whose  deliberations  "  are  second  only  to  those  of  the  legislature  in  their  conse- 
quences in  the  State."     Dubuque  Express  and  Herald,  Dec.  5,  1858. 

»  D.  C.  C,  pp.  39,  40  etseq. 

»Z.,  1858,  c.  52. 

*  District  Township  v.  City  of  Dubuque,  7  Clarke  (la.),  262. 


35]  PUBLIC  ED  UCA  TWA  3  5 

the  powers  of  the  board  ended  and  those  of  the  Le^^islature 
began.  It  meant  that  both  board  and  Legislature  must 
tread  Hghtly  the  soil  of  this  shadowy  division  line. 

The  board  approached  its  task  with  hesitation.^  It  took 
up  the  unconstitutional  act  of  the  General  Assembly  and 
passed  it  with  slight  alterations.^  It  advised  itself  of  the 
further  needs  of  the  schools,  and  little  by  little  undertook 
to  supply  them.  But  if  the  General  Assembly  was  to  be 
robbed  of  its  initiative  it  could  well  be  conceived  that  with 
a  power  to  alter,  amend  or  repeal  it  would  not  handle  over- 
gently  the  creations  of  a  rival  legislature.  And  it  did  not. 
The  power  to  revise  was  freely  exercised. 

The  school  legislation  proceeded  until  it  became  apparent 
that  there  was  little  left  for  the  board  to  propose  or  the 
Legislature  to  recast.  With  this  another  clause  of  the 
Constitution  came  into  play,  and  it  was  asked,  had  the  peo- 
ple and  the  constitutional  convention  tied  the  very  hands  of 
those  upon  whom  they  had  sought  to  confer  authority? 
For  the  Constitution  stated  concerning  the  school  laws  that 
when  "  altered,  amended  or  repealed  they  shall  not  be  re- 
enacted  by  the  board  of  education."  It  was  a  curious  provi- 
sion, and  one  that  was  held  to  mean  that  the  board  might  not 
twice  act  upon  the  same  subject,  and  that  the  power  to  alter, 
amend  or  repeal  should  not  be  held  in  abeyance  or  be  twice 
exercised.*  A  school  law  once  a  law  was  thus  a  statute 
in  perpetuo,  and  took  on  something  of  the  formidable  in- 
flexibility of  a  written  constitution.  These  conflicts  and 
self-destructive  principles  and  rules,  with  their  basis  of  un- 
matured political  science,  meant  the  undoing  of  the  system, 
and,  together  with  the  jealousy  of  the  General  Assembly 
towards  a  competitor  in  its  own  field,  succeeded  in  accom- 

»  Gov.  Mess.,  i860,  p.  7.  •  L.  S.  B.  £.,  Dec.  24,  1858. 

'  Report  of  the  State  Board  of  Education,  1863,  PP-  27»  28. 


36  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  T^g 

plishing  it  immediately  the  constitutional  limitation  had 
expired/ 

Examined  with  respect  to  its  power  as  an  administrative 
machine  it  is  apparent  that  centralization  was  here  carried 
to  an  extreme  limit,  and  had  the  board  been  cast  on  clean 
lines  and  endowed  with  powers  less  irritating  to  the  other 
departments  of  government  it  could  have  governed  the 
schools  almost  secure  from  molestation.  For  a  legislative, 
an  executive  and  a  judicial  power  were  focussed  here,  a  legis- 
lative power  limited  of  course  by  the  right  of  the  General 
Assembly  to  amend  or  repeal,  and  the  inhibition  of  the 
taxing  power  and  power  of  appropriation,  an  executive 
power  that  must  no  doubt  serve  the  Legislature  as  well  as 
the  board,  for  the  power  of  the  Legislature  to  overrule  the 
board  meant  no  less,  and  a  judicial  power  that  assuredly 
would  have  received  harsh  treatment  had  it  trenched  much 
upon  the  authority  of  the  courts,  but  still  a  legislative,  an 
executive  and  a  judicial  power  of  much  importance. 

Exercising  its  legislative  power  the  board,  quick  to  appre- 
ciate the  school  needs,  passed  laws  that  had  hardly  occurred 
to  the  slower  moving  Legislature.  Notable  among  them 
was  the  law  for  school  appeals,^  though  of  this  it  had  re- 
ceived a  hint  from  the  discussion  in  the  constitutional  con- 
vention, in  which  the  creation  of  a  Chancellor,  with  power 
to  settle  school  differences  subject  to  appeal  to  the  Supreme 
Court,  had  been  mooted.^  Furthermore  it  had  a  model  for 
such  a  law  in  the  provisions  of  the  unconstitutional  act  of 
1858.  Another  step  in  advance  was  made  when  it  provided 
for  a  State  Board  of  Educational  Examiners,  who  might 
examine  and  issue  certificates  to  teachers  for  the  public 
schools.* 

*Z.,  1864,  c.  52.     The  message  of  the  governor  to  this  session  had  favored  its 
abolition.     Gov.  Mess.^  pp.  4,  5.  ^  L.  S.  B.  -£".,  Dec.  24,  1859. 

•Z?.  C.  a,  vol.  i,  p.  78.  *L.  S.  B.  E.,  Dec.  20,  1861. 


37]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  37 

The  board  itself  was  not  an  executive  body.  Its  sec- 
retary was  the  only  executive  officer,  but  through  him 
the  board  might  execute  its  will,  for  by  the  Constitution 
he  was  to  "  perform  such  duties  as  may  be  imposed  upon 
him  by  the  board,"  and  though  it  was  in  session  but 
twenty  days  during  the  year,  it  was,  at  least  secondarily, 
something  of  an  administrative  council.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  board's  career  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion still  existed,  but  the  office  was  immediately  abolished 
by  the  board,  largely  for  political  reasons,  and  the  functions 
were  bestowed  upon  its  secretary.  Moreover,  the  secretary 
was  given  a  wide  ordinance  power,  the  board  on  the  passage 
of  its  first  school  law  providing,  "  The  Secretary  of  the 
Board  of  Education  may  make  all  needful  rules  and  regu- 
lations to  give  efficacy  to  this  law.  And  should  any  defect 
be  discovered  therein  while  this  board  is  not  in  session, 
which  is  evidently  the  result  of  oversight,  and  which  in  his 
opinion  is  detrimental  to  the  efficiency  of  the  law,  he  may 
supply  such  defect  by  a  regulation  having  the  force  of  law 
until  the  matter  can  be  acted  on  by  this  board.  .  .  .  He 
may  also  make  regulations  fixing  the  powers  and  duties  of 
any  subordinate  officer  or  board  when  these  duties  are  not 
sufficiently  defined  herein."  ^  The  authority  thus  conveyed 
was  not  tested,  for  the  secretary,  fearing  he  might  transcend 
the  power  conferred,  confined  himself  to  its  exercise  in  only 
a  few  unimportant  cases. ^ 

Finally  the  board  conferred  judicial  authority  upon  its 
executive  agent,  certainly  a  remarkable  measure  when  it  is 

'  L.  S.  B.  E.y  Dec.  24,  1858.  Though  the  constitutionality  of  these  provisions 
was  never  brought  in  question,  never  receiving  an  important  application,  it  would 
seem  that  the  board  here  approached  treacherous  ground.  This  amounted  to  little 
less  than  a  delegation  of  legislative  power,  a  power  that  in  the  hands  of  the  board 
itself  could  be  made  effective  only  upon  concurrence  of  a  majority  of  the  membcrf. 

'  Report  of  the  State  Board  of  Education,  1859,  p.  15. 


3 8  ADMINJSTRA  TION  OF  10  WA  T-y  g 

recalled  that  the  secretary  was  the  servant  and  mouthpiece 
of  the  board.  Appeals  from  acts  and  decisions  of  local 
Boards  of  Directors  might  be  entertained  by  the  county 
superintendent,  and  from  his  decisions  and  acts  appeals 
might  be  taken  to  the  secretary,  whose  decision  was  final. 
Disputes  involving  money  claims  or  contracts  alone  were 
excepted ;  these  were  left  to  the  courts. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  nature  of  the  board  was  not 
such  that  it  could  have  been  given  a  longer  test,  for  while  it 
was  weighted  with  deficiences,  its  personnel  was  vigorous,^ 
its  spirit  was  sound,  and  there  was  much  in  its  plan  that  if 
given  a  favorable  opportunity  might  have  proved  invaluable 
in  the  development  of  the  schools.  As  it  was  the  schools 
did  not  suffer,  but  thrived  under  its  regime,  though  this  was 
doubtless  due  chiefly  to  the  free  school  law  which  was  now 
just  under  way. 

With  the  year  1863,  when  the  State  Board  of  Education 
was  abolished  and  the  Superintendent  introduced,  the  State 
was  done  with  experiments.  Down  to  the  Code  of  1873 
reactionary  tendencies  were  at  work.  The  Legislature  had 
regained  its  control  of  the  schools,  and  seemingly  was  in- 
clined to  let  them  take  care  of  themselves  for  a  season.  The 
greater  local  integration  of  the  school  system  intended  by 
the  adoption  of  the  township  district  was  checked,  and  local 
decentralization  under  piecemeal  laws  grew  apace.  During 
this  period  was  begun  that  series  of  acts  which,  by  providing 
for  independent  districts,  though  this  had,  within  limits, 
been  sanctioned  by  the  law  providing  for  the  township  dis- 
trict, by  conferring  upon  sub-districts  the  right  to  constitute 
themselves  independent  districts,^  by  permitting  independent 

*See  Proceedings  of  the  Pioneer  Lawmakers'  Association  of  lowa^  1898,  p.  77. 

"See  Z.,  1872,  c.  156,  Gov.  Mess.,  1874,  p.  13,  and  Z.,  1888,  c.  61,  for  illustra- 
tion. There  were  occasional  attempts  to  check  this  movement,  but  they  were  of 
little  avail.     G?</^,  i873,§  1713. 


39]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  39 

districts  to  divide  themselves  into  two  or  more  new  inde- 
pendent districts/  or  on  the  other  hand  to  combine,  or  by 
other  and  multifarious  permissions  too  detailed  to  mention 
made  the  local  school  administration  a  patchwork,  without 
system  and  without  form,  a  condition  that  has  endured  to 
the  present  day  in  the  face  of  the  protests  covering  half  a 
century.^  The  powers  conferred  upon  the  State  Superin- 
tendent were  not  fully  commensurate  with  those  which  the 
Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education  had  exercised;^  the 
Board  of  Educational  Examiners  though  patently  weak  was 
not  altered,  the  county  superintendents  were  stripped  of 
their  power  of  visitation,  though  this  was  restored  again 
within  a  few  years,*  and  a  general  spirit  of  legislative  in- 
difference prevailed. 

But  with  the  year  1870  a  lively  interest  began  in  school 
affairs,  and  from  then  on  there  has  been  a  steady  progression 
in  the  expansion  of  the  State  and  county  administration. 
The  powers  of  the  school  directors  have  remained  practic- 
ally stationary,  only  a  mite  of  added  authority  occasionally 
falling  to  them  in  the  laws  of  general  application.*^ 

The  enhancement  of  the  county  administration  has  meant 
almost  entirely  the  extension  of  the  county  superintendent's 
powers.®     On  the  other  hand  the  increase  of  the  strength 

»Z.,  1878.  c.  133. 

>The  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education  in  1858  was  in  favor  of  carrying  the 
change  to  the  extreme  of  a  county  district. 

'Z.,  1864,  c.  52. 

*Z.  .S".  B,  E.J  Dec.  24,  1859,  omitted  provision  for  visitation;  Z.,  1864,  c.  I02^ 
restored  it. 

•Z.,  1886,  c.  I,  concerning  instruction  in  physiology  and  effects  of  stimulants  and 
narcotics;  Z.,  19CX),  c.  109,  teaching  of  vocal  music;  Z.,  1902,  c.  128,  compul- 
sory education.  In  the  light  of  the  history  of  other  States  grave  doubts  may  be 
entertained  as  to  the  success  of  local  administration  of  the  latter  law. 

•  The  chief  additions  to  the  county  superintendent's  powers  and  duties  since 
1863  are  found   in  acts  making  him  president  of  county  high  school  board,  Z., 


40  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [^q 

of  the  State  administration  has  taken  several  forms.  The 
Superintendent's  powers  have  been  increased.^  At  the  same 
time  various  special  boards  have  been  created  with  wide 
functions,  and  certain  extra-legal  bodies  have  developed 
whose  administrative  influence  is  none  the  less  real  because 
unstatutory.  The  particular  directions  in  which  the  several 
branches  of  the  school  administration  were  strengthened 
will  appear  in  the  discussion  of  the  present  system. 

In  concluding  this  historical  sketch  we  may  summarize 
and  more  succinctly  indicate  the  dominant  tendencies  which 
have  served  to  stamp  the  several  stages  in  the  school  admin- 
istration. From  1838  to  1841  we  note  quite  perfect  decen- 
tralization,   almost    entirely   theoretical    however,    for    the 

1870,  c.  116;  requiring  him  to  make  reports  concerning  blind,  Z.,  1870,  c.  31  ; 
deaf  and  dumb,  Z.,  1874,  c.  213;  and  feeble-minded,  Z.,  1882,0.40;  erect  school 
districts  from  territory  in  adjoining  counties,  Z.,  1870,'c.  94;  appoint  appraisers  in 
condemnation  of  school-house  sites,  Z.,  1870,  c.  124  (recalling  the  power  possessed 
by  him  under  the  State  Board  of  Education  laws  to  examine  sites  and  plans  of 
school  houses  about  to  be  built,  and  give  instructions,  see  Z.  S.  B.  E.,  Dec.  24, 
1858);  act  as  arbitrator  between  local  boards,  as  to  where  children  shall  attend 
school,  Z.,  1878,  c.  41 ;  making  him  chairman  of  county  Board  of  Education,  Z,, 
1890,  c.  24;  giving  him  power  to  subpoena  witnesses  and  compel  their  attendance 
in  appeal  cases,  Code,  1897,  §  2821. 

*  The  more  important  additions  to  the  State  Superintendent's  powers  and  duties 
have  been  found  in  acts  providing  for  a  deputy  superintendent,  Z.,  1868,  c.  115  ; 
requiring  State  Superintendent  to  meet  county  superintendents  in  convention,  and 
to  visit  teachers'  institutes,  Z.,  1868,  c.  162  (rather  a  recurrrence  to  former  power 
that  had  since  been  abolished);  making  him  chief  of  State  Board  of  Educational  Ex- 
aminers, Z.,  1882,  c.  167  (though  the  State  Superintendent's  powers  were  not  as 
great  as  he  had  recommended  they  should  be,  see  6".  R.,  1877,  p.  7);  making  him 
president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  State  Normal  School,  Z.,  1882,  c.  64;  giving 
power  to  approve  courses  of  study  of  graded  or  union  schools.  Code,  1897,  §  2776; 
giving  authority  to  prepare  and  publish  courses  of  study  for  rural  and  high  schools, 
Z.,  1900,  c.  94  ;  giving  authority  to  appoint  substitutes  where  county  superinten- 
dent fails  to  make  report,  Z.,  1900,  c.  94  ;  making  him  member  of  the  Board  of 
Library  Trustees,  Z.,  1872,  c.  184.  There  was  a  diminution  in  authority  in  1864, 
when  the  power  to  direct  what  books  should  be  used  in  the  schools  was  taken 
away,  Z.,  1864,  c.  52. 


^l]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  4 1 

schools  had  not  developed  at  this  time.  The  year  1841- 
1842  was  signalized  by  the  creation  and  abolition  of  the 
territorial  superintendency,  an  office  weak  in  legal  authority, 
hence  not  indicative  of  the  legislative  approval  of  central 
power,  but  strong  in  the  pioneer  enthusiasm  of  its  incum- 
bent. From  1842  to  1847  the  territory  reaped  the  fruits  of 
its  Legislature's  folly.  The  Superintendent  gone,  there 
being  no  county  authority  to  aid  or  control,  the  schools  were 
near  collapse,  and  disorganization  was  the  order  of  the  day. 
This  was  a  period  of  decentralization,  of  a  peculiar  type, 
however,  for  it  traveled  under  the  guise  of  a  legislative  ad- 
ministration. Just  above  the  district  was  the  township 
inspectorship,  an  office  that  contained  the  seeds  of  strength 
l)ut  did  not  flourish  because  of  the  perverse  conditions  with 
which  it  was  surrounded.  The  admission  of  the  State 
in  1846  meant  a  new  era,  and  in  1847  great  strides  were 
made  toward  the  centralization  of  the  school  system.  The 
State  Superintendent  was  provided  with  powers  concern- 
ing the  schools  and  school  finances,  which,  read  on  paper 
only,  exceeded  anything  that  has  existed  since  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  Board  of  Education.^  But  in  reality  the 
centralization  was  not  all  that  it  seems,  and  was  in  fact 
essentially  less  than  what  now  exists  in  the  State.  This 
contradiction  of  appearances  and  truth  is  explained  by 
two  facts.  First  we  note  the  attempt  to  make  the  State 
Superintendent  strong  beyond  his  power  of  efficient  endur- 
ance. To  give  him  the  power  of  comptroller  of  the  school 
funds,  the  duties  of  a  register  of  a  State  land  office  and  the 

»  In  1853  the  State  Superintendent  was  made  President  of  the  Board  of  Over- 
seers of  the  Blind  Asylum,  which  was  then  established.  Z.,  1852-53,  c.  26.  Two 
years  later,  however,  it  was  provided  that  the  members  of  the  board  should 
^lect  their  own  president,  though  the  State  Superintendent  remained  for  a  time  an 
ex-officto  member  of  the  board.  Z.,  1854-55,  c.  56.  As  early  as  1849  the  State 
Superintendent  had  been  required  to  exercise  ministerial  functions  with  regard  to 
4he  deaf,  dumb  and  blind.     Z.,  1849,  c.  121. 


42  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [42 

multitudinous  functions  of  director  of  the  school  system  in 
all  its  ramifications,  without  at  the  same  time  providing  a 
sufficient  body  of  assistants,  was  to  insure  at  the  outset  that 
almost  none  of  his  work  would  be  done  satisfactorily,  that 
much  of  it  would  be  done  poorly,  that  some  of  it  would  not 
be  done  at  all.  The  other  fact  is  found  in  the  conditions 
of  the  day.  The  school  population  was  not  of  any  extent 
until  about  1854;  the  ability  of  the  people  to  support  a 
school  system  was  very  limited.  Most  eloquent  of  the  times 
was  the  provision  for  the  normal  schools  of  1848 — a  vision 
of  the  law  that  was  not  even  in  part  realized  for  thirty  years. 

It  is  difficult  to  characterize  the  period  from  1858  to  1863, 
that  of  the  rule  of  the  Board  of  Education.  It  is  a  period 
of  centralization,  but  centralization  so  unlike  anything  found 
in  our  State  governments  generally,  or  in  the  history  of 
Iowa  before  or  since  that  time,  that  it  must  be  examined  by 
itself  and  as  an  anomaly. 

The  period  since  1863  is  divided  roughly  at  the  year  1870, 
the  years  from  1863  to  1870  being  marked  by  a  slight  reac- 
tionary tendency,  those  from  1870  on  by  a  slow  and  even 
gathering  of  new  forces  in  the  county,  and  more  especially 
in  the  State  administration.  The  increase  of  control  in  the 
county  takes  but  one  form,  that  of  added  power  to  the  county 
superintendent,  while  the  State  administrative  power  de- 
velops simultaneously  in  the  State  Superintendent  and  the 
State  Educational  Boards. 

II     The  Administration  of  the  School  Unit 

To  make  clear  the  present  administration  of  the  schools 
it  is  necessary  to  describe  briefly  the  character  of  the  local 
administrative  division,  and  the  powers  of  the  electors  and 
the  school  directors  in  that  division. 

Since  the  year  1858,  when  the  township  district  was 
adopted,  it  has  been  impossible  to  speak  accurately  of  the 


43]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  43 

school  unit  as  a  school  district  in  Iowa,  for  so  various,  even 
whimsical,  have  been  the  changes  since  that  time  that  to-day 
not  one,  but  three  forms  of  the  local  school  division  are 
found,  while  the  change  from  one  form  to  another,  under 
the  statutes,  may  be  made  with  such  facility  that  almost  all 
idea  of  uniformity  and  continuity  is  destroyed.  These 
three  forms  are  named  by  the  recent  law  "school  townships/' 
"  independent  school  districts "  and  "  rural  independent 
school  districts."  ^  The  chief  distinction  between  the  school 
tcnvn ships  and  the  independent  districts  is  that  the  latter 
constitute  entire  units,  in  which  the  directors  are  elected  at 
large,  while  the  former  are  each  made  up  of  two  or  more 
sub-districts,  with  the  directors  elected  one  from  each  sub- 
district,  except  in  those  cases  where,  there  being  but  two 
sub-districts  to  the  school  township,  an  additional  director 
is  provided  for,  elected  by  all  the  school  electors  of  the 
school  township.  In  the  school  townships  the  directors  are 
elected  for  a  term  of  but  one  year,  in  the  independent  dis- 
tricts for  a  term  of  three  years.  The  differences  between  the 
rural  and  other  independent  districts  are  chiefly  those  due 
to  differences  in  urban  and  country  life.  As  an  illustration, 
the  urban  district  boards  are  larger  than  the  rural,  and  peti- 
tions to  rural  boards  may  be  signed  by  a  smaller  number 
than  those  to  the  urban.  The  principle  of  this  system,  if 
principle  it  may  be  said  to  have,  is  adaptability  to  local 
preferences.  To  say  that  the  principle  should  be  described 
as  adaptibility  to  local  needs  would  be  to  defend  it,  a  thing 
that  would  require  vast  hardihood  in  the  face  of  the  years 
of  unbroken  condemnation  from  those  versed  in  school 
affairs  and  school  government.  This  adaptability  to  local 
preference  has  been  an  evolution;  it  was  only  gradually 
worked  out  in  all  its  elasticity  by  the  legislation  of  forty 

»  Code,  1897,  §  2744. 


44  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  \aa 

years,  and  as  though  each  aberrant  contribution  were  a  gem 
in  the  system  all  have  been  carefully  set  in  the  latest  code. 

The  first  reports  of  the  county  superintendents  following 
the  Code  of  1897  showed  that  there  were  70  independent 
and  263  sub-districts  having  an  attendance  upon  the  schools 
of  less  than  5 ;  502  independent  and  2,075  sub-districts  hav- 
ing an  attendance  of  less  than  10;  1,273  independent  and 
5,100  sub-districts  having  an  attendance  of  less  than  15, 
and  1,950  independent  and  7,379  sub-districts  having  an 
attendance  of  less  than  20.  In  the  total  of  independent 
districts  and  sub-districts  53  per  cent,  of  the  independent 
districts  and  79  per  cent,  of  the  sub-districts  had  an  average 
daily  attendance  of  less  than  20;  34  per  cent,  of  the  inde- 
pendent and  54  per  cent,  of  the  sub-districts  had  an  average 
daily  attendance  of  less  than  15,  and  13  per  cent,  of  the  inde- 
pendent and  22  per  cent,  of  the  sub-districts  had  an  average 
daily  attendance  of  less  than  10.^  The  arguments  against 
the  small  district  system  are  platitudes,  and  so  familiar  that 
they  need  not  be  rehearsed  here.  But  the  above  figures, 
though  illustrating  only  a  single  phase  of  the  deficiencies  of 
the  system,  must  plead  forcibly  for  the  enduring  vitally  of 
these  arguments.  There  have  been,  in  the  last  General 
Assemblies,  some  indications  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  sys- 
tem; the  movement  to  bring  school  advantages  to  a  higher 
plane  through  concentration,  as  in  the  proposals  for  trans- 
portation of  children,  and  the  desire  strongly  manifest  on 
occasion  to  provide  higher  or  graded  schools  for  the  town- 
ships,^ have  been  seriously  baulked  by  the  minute  school 
division.  It  may  be  that  the  appreciation  of  these  wider 
educational  responsibilities  will  accomplish  what  strenuous 
protest  has  failed  to,  and  place  the  system  on  a  more  rational 
basis. 

1  s.  R.,  1899,  pp.  69,  70.  ^  S.R.,  1899,  p-  19 ;  1901,  pp.  15. 16. 


45  ]  PUBLIC  ED UCA  TION  ^C 

The  powers  of  the  electors  in  the  school  unit  are  very 
inclusive,  and  were  they  exercised  the  electoral  administra- 
tion of  the  schools  would  be  conspicuous.  It  needs  hardly 
to  be  said,  however,  that  they  are  little  used.  They  embrace 
the  following,  viz. :  power  to  direct  a  change  of  text-books 
regularly  adopted ;  to  direct  sale  or  distribution  of  any  prop- 
erty, including  school  houses  and  sites,  and  determine  the 
application  of  the  proceeds;  to  introduce  new  branches  of 
study;  to  govern  the  board  of  directors  with  respect  to  the 
use  of  the  school  buildings  for  public  meetings;  to  direct 
the  transfer  of  any  surplus  in  the  school-house  fund  to  the 
teachers'  or  contingent  fund;  to  authorize  the  board  to  pro- 
vide roads  for  access  to  the  school  houses;  to  vote  school 
taxes;  and  finally,  as  a  last  principal  power,  to  determine 
upon  the  provision  of  free  text-books.^ 

The  directors  are  in  a  measure  servants  of  the  electors 
of  the  school  Unit,  and  to  a  slight  degree  of  the  county 
superintendents  and  the  State  Superintendent.  At  the  same 
time  they  have  a  certain  independence;  they  may  prescribe 
courses  of  study,  subject,  however,  to  a  degree  of  control 
previously  indicated  as  existing  in  the  hands  of  the  State 
Superintendent  or  the  electors;  they  have  control  of  the 
school  property,  may  fix  school  house  sites,  determine  the 
number  of  schools  to  be  taught,  divide  the  corporations  into 
wards  or  other  proper  divisions,  determine  the  length  of 
time  the  school  shall  be  taught  beyond  the  period  required 
by  law,  establish  higher  or  graded  and  union  schools,  expel 
students,  visit  the  schools,  and  make  contracts  with  teachers 
and  discharge  them  on  investigation.  It  is  apparent  from 
the  recitation  of  the  powers  of  electors  and  directors  that 
the  schools  are  administered  chiefly  in  the  school  unit.     But 

1  Codty  1897,  §  2836.  The  law  for  district  and  county  uniformity  of  text-bcoks 
was  not  enacted  until  1890,  c.  24;  that  for  free  text-books  not  until  1896,  c.  37. 


46  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  F^g 

it  will  be  shown  that  the  external  control  is  by  no  means  a 
mean  or  unavailing  thing. 

Ill     The  County  School  Administration 

The  county  school  administration  is  the  county  superin- 
tendent. He  is  elected  by  the  electors  of  the  county  for  a 
term  of  two  years.  There  is  indeed  a  Board  of  Education, 
the  object  of  whose  existence  is  to  afford  a  means  for  the 
introduction  of  county  uniformity  in  text-books,  but  its 
power  is  entirely  restricted  to  that  purpose,  and  even  here 
the  county  superintendent  may  become,  and  doubtless  usu- 
ally is,  the  guiding  spirit,  for  he  is  the  executive  head  of  the 
board,  with  certain  sole  powers.  The  Board  of  Trustees 
of  the  County  High  School  is  again  hardly  an  exception, 
and  this  for  two  reasons,  first  because  the  law  for  such 
schools  has  remained  practically  a  dead  letter,  there  being 
but  one  county  high  school  in  the  entire  State,  and  second 
because,  though  the  board  is  made  up  of  trustees  elected 
from  the  county,  the  county  superintendent  is  by  law  always 
its  president. 

The  county  superintendent  exercises  on  the  one  hand  ad- 
ministrative powers  both  ministerial  and  discretionary,  on 
the  other  powers  that,  with  qualifications,  may  be  denomi- 
nated judicial.  Of  the  administrative  powers  we  shall  first 
speak. 

The  county  superintendent  comes  into  direct  contact  with 
the  local  Boards  of  Directors  in  a  number  of  ways.  First, 
he  is  given  a  general  power  to  see  that  the  school  laws  are 
observed.  This  extends  to  all  the  provisions  of  the  school 
law  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  schools  or  school  officers  within 
his  county,  and  to  this  end  he  may  require  the  assistance  of 
the  county  attorney,  who,  at  his  request,  must  bring  any 
action  necessary  to  enforce  the  law  or  recover  penalties  in- 


47]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  47 

curred/  School  directors  are  required  before  they  may 
erect  a  school  building  to  consult  with  the  county  superin- 
tendent as  to  the  best  plan  for  the  building  and  secure  his 
approval  of  the  plan  proposed.^  He  has  power  to  authorize 
a  reduction  of  the  period  of  instruction  in  any  school  below 
the  limit  which  the  law  requires  before  a  school  can  make  any 
claim  for  a  portion  of  the  school  fund,  when  in  his  judgment 
there  are  sufficient  reasons  for  so  doing. ^  He  may,  further- 
more, appoint  appraisers  to  determine  the  value  of  school 
house  sites.*  He  visits  the  schools.  Moreover,  reports  of 
district  treasurers  and  secretaries  in  general  are  made  to  him, 
and  not  to  the  State  Superintendent.*^  The  general  nature 
of  these  powers  is  readily  deduced.  They  are  principally 
advisory,  though  there  are  some  elements  of  direct  adminis- 
tration. And,  such  is  the  nature  of  advisory  powers,  they 
carry  with  them  no  great  coercive  strength. 

But  the  county  superintendent  is  not  denied  some  original 
authority,  that  is  to  say  authority  that  has  its  first  residence 
in  him.  Most  important  is  the  power  to  examine  and  issue 
certificates  to  teachers.  So  important  is  this  power  and  so 
essential  to  the  existence  of  the  county  superintendency  itself 
that  it  has  been  urged,  when  transfer  of  all  examinations 
to  the  State  Superintendent  has  been  proposed,  that  to  de- 
prive it  of  this  power  would  be  almost  complete  emascu- 
lation. For  it  was  argued  that  power  to  examine  meant 
power  to  control  the  teaching  force  and  thus  indirectly  the 
schools.  The  even  working  of  the  system  is  dependent — 
so  it  was  averred — upon  the  continuance  of  this  power.* 
These  examinations  are  regularly  held  on  the  last  Saturday 
in  each  month,  though  special  examinations  may  be  held 
at  the  discretion  of  the  county  superintendent.''     The  exam- 

1  Code.   1897,  §  2740.  '  Ibid.,  §  2779. 

»  Code^  1897,  §  2773.        *  ^bid.,  §  281 5.  »  Ibid.,  §  2739. 

«  S.  R.,  I901,  p.  14.  '  Code,  1897,  §  2735. 


48  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  10  WA  \^% 

inations  are  of  three  classes,  examinations  for  one-year  cer- 
tificates, for  two-year  certificates,  and  for  special  certificates. 
The  one-year  certificates  are  granted  to  candidates  passing 
examinations  in  the  subjects  that  are  taught  in  the  grade 
schools ;  the  two  years  certificates  to  those  who,  in  addition, 
pass  in  several  branches  that  are  confined  to  the  high 
schools,  but  are  still  of  an  elementary  character.^  Candi- 
dates for  examination  in  special  studies  are  examined 
in  these  special  branches  only,  but  it  is  provided  that  no 
teacher  shall  be  employed  to  teach  any  subject  not  included 
in  the  certificate.^  These  certificates  once  granted,  the 
county  superintendent  still  has  power  to  revoke  them  for 
any  cause  that  would  have  justified  a  refusal  to  grant  the 
same. 

In  still  another  point  he  exercises  an  influence  over  the 
preparation  of  teachers.  He  is  required  to  hold  annually 
a  normal  institute  for  the  instruction  of  teachers  and  those 
who  may  desire  to  teach,  and,  with  the  concurrence  of  the 
State  Superintendent,  to  procure  such  assistance  as  may 
be  necessary  to  conduct  it.^  He  has  a  financial  power 
here,  for  all  disbursements  from  the  institute  fund  must  be 
upon  his  order.*  These  institutes  are  supported  by  the 
teachers  chiefly,  the  State  making  only  a  slight  contribution.'' 

Whatever  the  arguments  for  or  against  centralization,  it 
must  be  admitted  that  the  county  institute  is  a  good  and 
desirable  thing.  But  the  county  examination  of  teachers 
is  another  matter.      Here  the  administration  is  involved. 

»  Code,  1897,  §§  2736,  2737.  2  Ibid.,  §  2735. 

»  Code,  1897,  §  2738.  *  Idem. 

*  In  1898  the  enrollment  in  normal  institutes  was  20,784,  and  in  1899,  20,454. 
The  entire  cost  of  maintaining  these  institutes  was  359,908.86  in  1898,  and 
160,717.26  in  1899,  or  a  total  of  $120,626.12.  The  whole  amount  was  raised  by 
the  teachers,  with  the  exception  of  JP50  paid  annually  by  the  State  to  each  county 
for  the  benefit  of  the  institute  fund. 


49]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  ^^ 

The  decentralization  of  course  is  not  so  pronounced  as  that 
in  the  disorganized  period  of  the  schools,  when  at  one  time 
the  school  directors,  at  another  the  township  inspectors, 
examined  the  teachers,  systems  upon  the  working  of  which 
there  is  little  evidence,  and  that  little  unfavorable.  But 
in  contrast  with  State  examination  it  is  local  control.  The 
comparative  value  of  the  system  will  be  examined  in  the 
discussion  of  the  State  Board  of  Educational  Examiners. 

The  county  superintendent  has  a  further  administrative 
function,  acting  as  the  organ  of  communication  between  the 
State  Superintendent  and  the  school  unit  authorities,  and 
he  is  required  to  comply  with  the  directions  of  the  State  Su- 
perintendent in  all  matters  within  that  officer's  jurisdiction.^ 
These  obligations  are  in  one  important  respect  enforced 
by  the  provision  that  the  State  Superintendent  may  appoint 
a  substitute  when  he  fails  to  make  the  reports  required,  and 
determine  the  remuneration  of  the  substitute,  to  be  paid  by 
the  county  superintendent.^  Similar  duties  are  found  in 
the  provisions  that  the  county  superintendent  shall  file  with 
the  county  auditor  a  statement  of  the  number  of  persons  of 
school  age  in  each  school  township  and  independent  district 
in  the  county.^  This  is  to  provide  a  basis  for  the  apportion- 
ment of  the  school  fund  and  income  from  the  county  school 
taxes.  The  duty  to  report  the  blind  in  his  county  to  the 
superintendent  of  the  college  for  the  blind,  the  feeble  minded 
to  the  superintendent  of  the  institution  for  the  feeble  minded, 
and  the  deaf  and  dumb  to  the  superintendent  of  the  institu- 
tion for  the  deaf  and  dumb  are  not  related  to  the  school 
system,  and  need  be  no  more  than  mentioned  here.* 

A  judicial  power  has  been  referred  to.  This  is  the  power 
that  the  county  superintendent  has  to  entertain  appeals  from 

»  Code,  1897,  §  2735.  •  L„  1900,  c.  94. 

» C#tfir,  1897,  §  2739.  '  *  Idem, 


50  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [50 

any  decision  or  order  of  a  Board  of  Directors  in  a  matter 
of  law  and  fact,  except  those  for  money  judgments.  The 
basis  of  the  appeal  is  an  affidavit  setting  forth  the  error 
complained  of.  The  appeal  must  be  perfected  within  thirty 
days  after  the  rendition  of  the  decision  or  making  of  the 
order.  The  county  superintendent's  decision  is  not  conclu- 
sive; it  may  be  appealed  to  the  State  Superintendent,  where 
the  hearing  is  final.  Until  1897  this  authority  proved  in 
numerous  instances  fatally  weak.  Previous  to  that  time 
the  county  superintendent  had  had  no  power  to  compel  the 
attendance  of  witnesses.  But  in  that  year  he  was  empowered 
to  require  their  attendance  and  the  giving  of  evidence  by 
them  "  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the  same  extent  as  the 
district  court  may  do."  ^  The  effect  of  this  appellate  au- 
thority has  been  to  make  the  county  superintendent  not  a 
judicial  officer,  but  an  administrative  court  of  first  mstance.* 
While  the  population  of  the  99  counties  of  Iowa  ranges 
from  7,995  in  Dickinson  county  to  82,624  in  Polk,  it  will 
be  found  in  general  to  be  quite  evenly  distributed  among 
them,  most  all  falling  close  to  the  average  of  22,544.  Hence 
little  fault  can  be  found  with  the  system  of  county  superin- 
tendents upon  the  score  of  unequal  division  of  power  and 
labor.  Moreover,  for  the  duties  performed  the  salary  paid, 
which  is  now  $1,250  yearly,  with  such  additional  allowances 
as  the  Board  of  Supervisors  may  make,  can  not  induce  much 
criticism,  though  in  the  past  it  has  been  excessively  low.  A 
step  has  been  made  also  through  the  admission  of  women 
to  the  office.  While  in  1870  there  was  but  one  woman  in 
the  position,  there  were  10  in  1876,  11  in  1884,  14  in  1890, 
and  15  in  1896.'  In  1902  15  women  held  the  position,  of 
whom  three  had  filled  it  for  two  or  more  terms,  and  three  of 

1  Code,  1897,  §  2821.  '  School  District  vs.  Pratt,  17  la.,  16. 

*S.  R.,  1897,  p.  112. 


51]  PUBLIC  ED  UCA  TION  5  j 

the  remainder  had  been  re-elected  or  had  previously  held 
the  office.  In  the  point  of  educational  qualifications  the 
office  stands  somewhat  above  the  corresponding  office  in  a 
number  of  other  States.^  But  w^ith  all  this  said,  the  county 
super intendency  is  in  several  points  the  subject  of  grave 
criticism,  and  cannot  be  admitted  to  have  accomplished  all 
expected  of  it. 

It  has  in  fact  been  insecure  of  its  life  from  the  hour 
of  its  creation.  From  i860  to  1875  ^  strong  opposition 
developed,^  and  since  that  time  those  who  have  favored  the 
office  but  believed  that  it  was  in  need  of  improvement  have 
often  been  chary  of  advising  reform  lest  it  be  cut  off  root 
and  branch.^  The  State  Superintendents  have  generally 
defended  it,  though  not  without  recommendations  for  gen- 
erous alterations,*  recommendations  so  radical  in  some  cases 
as  to  mean  the  aggrandizement,  though  a  valuable  aggran- 
dizement it  may  be,  of  the  central  administration  at  its  ex- 
pense.*^ The  chief  elements  of  weakness  in  the  office  as  it 
now  exists  are  found  in  its  obligations  to  politics  and  its 
short  term.  There  have  not  been  wanting  sharp  complaints 
that  in  many  instances  the  county  superintendency  has  been 
a  mere  subject  of  political  bargain  and  sale  or  a  gate  to  the 
tortuous  passage  of  political  preferment.  This  political 
element  unites  with  the  short  term  to  cause  one  of  the  great- 
est wastes  in  the  entire  educational  system.  The  election 
returns  for  the  year  1899  indicate  that  46  of  the  99  super- 
intendents were  entirely  new  in  the  supervisory  work  of  the 
schools,  32  had  served  one  term,  16  two  or  more  terms,  and 
5  had  previously  held  the  office.®     It  takes  at  least  a  year  for 

»See  Codty  1897,  §  2734.  and  increase  by  Z.,  1898,  c.  85. 
"5.  R.,  1873,  P'  4^'     Sec  also  petitions  on  file  in  office  of  Secretary  of  State  of 
the  State  of  Iowa.     B-40,  2228. 

»  S.  R.,  1892,  p.  197.  *'Ibid.,  1873,  p.  41;  1889,  p.  53. 

^  Jhid..  1901,  pp.  14,  15.  •  S.  R.,  1899,  pp.  26,  27. 


5 2  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  f  ^ 2 

the  superintendent  to  become  acquainted  with  his  teachers 
and  the  conditions  surrounding  the  schools,  and  the  year 
remaining  is  but  a  brief  period  to  apply  what  he  has  learned, 
or  make  for  anything  in  the  way  of  improvement. 

Suggestions  looking  both  to  the  removal  of  the  ofBce  from 
partisan  politics  and  the  saving  to  the  schools  of  the  educa- 
tional waste  have  been  made.  Of  these  perhaps  the  most 
original  is  that  in  a  recent  school  report  suggesting  that  the 
county  superintendent  be  chosen  by  a  county  board,  some- 
thing after  the  manner  of  the  choice  of  city  superintendents 
by  city  boards.^  It  would  seem  that  any  improvement  in 
the  county  superintendency  will  be  but  a  temporary  expe- 
dient. With  the  increased  powers  of  the  State  Superin- 
tendent, the  Educational  Board  of  Examiners  and  the  extra- 
legal State  Teachers'  Association,  powers  that,  unless  the 
signs  of  evolution  are  deceiving,  will  be  extended,  the  county 
superintendent  seems  destined  to  become  more  and  more 
a  mere  ministerial  agent  of  the  central  administration,  and 
if  he  become  that,  the  narrowness  of  his  functions  and  the 
unendurableness  of  his  service  to  two  masters,  the  schools 
and  politics,  should  make  apparent  the  fact  that  the  office  is 
by  right  no  more  than  a  piece  of  administrative  machinery, 
and  that  as  such  it  should  be  so  constructed  as  to  be  the  best 
means  to  the  end  it  serves.  When  that  fact  is  recogfnized 
will  it  not  appear  that  the  best  method  of  reconstruction  will 
be  to  increase  territorially  the  jurisdiction  of  the  office,  make 
it  cover  six  or  eight  counties  where  it  now  covers  but  one, 
increase  the  salary  and  provide  a  corps  of  experienced  assist- 
ants, make  this  go-between  station,  in  short,  an  efficient  and 
admirable  part  of  a  well  digested  school  system,  working 
in  complete  harmony  with  the  State  superintendency  to  the 
perfection  of  the  schools,   and  to  no  other  end?      Thus 

» s.  R.,  1899,  p.  27. 


53]  PUBLIC  ED  UCA  TJOA  5  3 

there  will  be  the  passing  of  the  county  superintendency 
and  its  replacement  by  a  body  of  able  assistant  State  super- 
intendents, something  after  the  fashion  of  an  idea,  rough 
but  suggestive,  entertained  by  one  of  the  Governors  more 
than  thirty  years  ago/ 

IV  Central  School  Administration 

I    THE  STATE  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  PUBLIC  INSTRUCTION 

The  central  control  of  the  schools  has  not  yet  reached  that 
point  where  we  can  speak  of  a  hierarchy  of  school  officers 
with  one  undisputed  head.  But  so  far  as  central  authority 
is  lodged  in  any  one  man  it  is  found  in  the  State  Superin- 
tendent of  Public  Instruction.  If  his  power  of  control  is 
not  highly  developed,  at  least  his  presence  in  all  parts  of  the 
school  system  is  well  assured.  There  is  no  branch  of  the 
school  system,  no  central  or  local  board,  county  or  local 
officer  having  to  do  with  the  school,  over  which  he  has  not 
some  influence,  great  or  little.  He  touches  the  schools  at 
all  points.  His  salary  is  but  $2,200  per  annum,  and  his 
term  brief.  His  position,  therefore,  cannot  be  expected 
to  be  what  it  otherwise  might.  We  may  divide  his 
powers  into  those  of  direction  or  supervision,  the  appel- 
late power,  and  the  advisory  powers,  and  examine  them 
thus  in  order  from  the  more  to  the  less  competent.  It 
will  appear,  however,  that  powers  seemingly  of  the  first 
class  might  in  some  instances  be  more  appropriately 
grouped  with  the  third — so  much  less  real  than  appa- 
rent direct  administrative  capacity  do  they  yield — and 
that  among  the  advisory  powers  are  some  so  efficacious  as 
almost  to  deserve  a  place  among  the  so-called  directory 
powers. 

The  Superintendent  is  "  charged  with  the  general  super- 

*  Gov.  Mess  ,  1870,  p.  9. 


54  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [54 

vision  of  all  the  county  superintendents  and  common  schools 
of  the  State,"  but  this  authority  is  purely  supervisory.  He 
has  no  power  of  removal  or  suspension  of  a  refractory  sub- 
ordinate, so  that  one  disposed  to  oppose  him  can  do  so  prac- 
tically with  impunity.  But  such  opposition  is  almost  never 
met  with,  and  little  complaint  is  heard  upon  that  score.  He 
is  required  to  prepare,  publish  and  distribute  blank  forms 
for  all  returns  he  may  deem  necessary  or  that  may  be  re- 
quired by  law  of  school  teachers  or  school  officers,  and,  as 
has  been  pointed  out,  the  making  of  these  reports  he  can,  in 
a  measure,  coerce.^ 

The  Superintendent  has  power  to  meet  county  superin- 
tendents in  convention  at  such  points  in  the  State  as  he  may 
direct,  and  the  latter  are  allowed  their  expenses  in  attend- 
ance upon  the  convention.  He  appoints,  upon  request  of 
county  superintendents,  the  time  and  place  for  holding  teach- 
ers' institutes,  and  his  concurrence  in  securing  instructors 
to  conduct  the  same  is  essential.  He  has  authority  to  make 
tours  of  inspection  among  the  schools,  but  this  carries  with 
it  no  directory  power, ^  and  cannot  count  for  much  when  his 
other  duties  are  so  engrossing.  It  is  provided  that  he 
shall  have  power  "  to  prepare  questions  for  tlie  use  of  county 
superintendents  in  the  examination  of  applicants  for  teach- 
ers' certificates,"  '  and  it  might  be  assumed  that  this  would 
give  him  control  of  teachers'  examinations.  But  such  is 
not  the  case,  and  indeed  the  object  of  the  provision  was 
merely  to  determine  by  whom  the  printing  of  the  questions 
should  be  done.  And  although  not  one  in  twenty-five  county 
superintendents  fails  to  use  these  questions,*  the  papers  are 
still  marked  by  them,  so  that  there  is  no  uniform  standard 
for  these  examinations. 

^Anti,  p.  49»  L.,  1900,  c.  49.  'Z.,  1900,  c.  94.  »  Idem. 

*  This  statement  is  made  on  the  authority  of  the  State  Superintendent. 


55]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  55 

It  might  be  assumed  with  even  greater  show  of  reason 
that  the  section  of  the  code  providing  that  Boards  of 
Directors  "  shall  have  the  power  to  maintain  in  each  district 
one  or  more  schools  of  a  higher  order  .  .  .  and  may  estab- 
lish graded  or  union  schools  and  determine  what  branches 
shall  be  taught  therein,  but  the  course  of  study  shall  be  sub- 
ject to  the  approval  of  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion," ^  taken  in  connection  with  the  act  of  1900  empowering 
him  "  to  prepare,  publish  and  distribute,  among  teachers 
and  school  officers,  courses  of  study  for  use  in  the  rural  and 
high  schools  of  the  State,"  ^  would  give  him  something  of 
an  authority  to  direct  the  work  done  in  common  and  high 
schools.  But  while  these  courses  of  study  are  very  gener- 
ally used  in  the  common  schools,  the  high  schools  mostly 
arranging  their  own  courses,  the  actual  control  by  the  Super- 
intendent is  almost  entirely  lacking.  And  it  cannot  be  ex- 
pected that  a  course  of  study  even  under  a  much  stricter 
statute  will  be  carried  out,  unless  there  is  some  means  of 
direct  oversight.  This  suggests  one  of  the  greatest  needs 
of  the  system  at  the  present  time,  to  wit,  a  number  of  in- 
spectors, or  superintendent's  assistants,  who  shall  keep  a 
careful  lookout  for  the  needs  of  the  school  and  for  the  short- 
comings of  school  officers  and  teachers. 

From  the  standpoint  of  administrative  science  the  appel- 
late power  of  the  State  Superintendent  offers  one  of  the  two 
or  three  most  fertile  subjects  of  study  in  Iowa  government. 
This  is  so  because  the  State  Superintendent,  sitting  as  a  tri- 
bimal  to  pass  upon  the  acts  and  decisions  of  Boards  of 
Directors  and  county  superintendents,  acts  as  an  adminis- 
trative court  of  final  jurisdiction,  and  because  it  has  been 
recognized  that  in  this  country  an  administrative  court  is 
an  exotic.     The  regularly  constituted  tribunals  of  the  Amer- 

1  Code,  1897,  \  2776.  ^L.,  1900.  c.  94. 


56  ^  DM  INI S  TRA  TIOJV  OF  IOWA  [56 

ica*^  nnd  English  legal  systems  have  so  fully  arrogated  to 
themselves  all  powers  of  a  judicial  or  semi- judicial  nature 
that  a  rival  tribunal  attempting  to  share  the  smallest  part 
of  their  domain  is  bound  to  meet  v^ith  their  jealous  resist- 
ance. It  is  of  value  therefore  to  note  how  such  a  body  has 
fared  in  surroundings  so  uncongenial.  The  jurisdiction 
has  been  worked  out  through  statute,  through  judicial  deci- 
sion, and  partly  through  its  own  definition  and  interpreta- 
tion of  its  powers. 

The  section  granting  the  power  reads,  "An  appeal  may  be 
taken  from  the  decision  of  the  county  superintendent  to  the 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  in  the  same  manner 
as  provided  in  this  chapter  for  taking  appeals  from  the 
board  of  a  school  corporation  to  the  county  superintendent, 
as  nearly  as  applicable,  except  that  thirty  days'  notice  of  the 
appeal  shall  be  given  by  the  appellant  to  the  count}  super- 
intendent and  also  to  the  adverse  party.  The  decision  when 
made  shall  be  final.  Nothing  in  this  chapter  shall  be  so 
construed  as  to  authorize  either  the  county  or  State  Super- 
intendent to  render  judgment  for  money;  neither  shall  they 
be  allowed  any  other  compensation  than  is  now  allowed  by 
law."  ^  As  was  shown  in  the  discussion  of  the  county 
superintendent,  his  appellate  power  extends  only  to  cases 
involving  the  acts  or  orders  of  Boards  of  Directors.  It 
might  be  presumed  therefore  that  the  section  above  in  its 
use  of  the  words  "  decision  of  the  county  superintendent " 
meant  decision  in  the  cases  appealed  to  him.  But  the  State 
Superintendent  has  as  well  entertained  cases  involving 
merely  an  original  decision  or  order  of  the  county  superin- 
tendent himself,  associated  in  no  respect  with  with  any  pro- 
ceeding of  a  Board  of  Directors — for  instance  cases  where 
teachers'  certificates  have  been  revoked  or  denied.     And  as 

I  Code,  1897,  §  2820. 


5  7]  PUBLIC  ED  UCA  TION  5  j 

this  assumption  of  authority  has  not  been  disturbed  by  the 
courts  this  wider  interpretation  of  the  word  "  decision  "  is 
probably  correct.  But  here  the  authority  of  the  State  Super- 
intendent ends.  If  the  decision  or  order  is  of  a  Board  of 
Directors  or  county  superintendent  the  hearing  of  the  State 
Superintendent  cannot  be  attacked  for  want  of  jurisdiction. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  decision  or  order  of  a  meeting 
of  school  electors  or  county  supervisors  or  other  officers, 
though  it  involve  at  a  most  vital  point  the  school  system,  it 
is  beyond  the  appellate  power.  Thus  it  is  evident  at  the 
outset  that  the  sphere  of  appellate  authority  is  a  ragged  one; 
and  if  the  development  of  that  authority  fails  to  be  a  full- 
rounded  whole  or  to  lack  in  definiteness,  some  explanation 
is  to  be  found  in  its  statutory  definition. 

The  denial  of  power  to  render  money  juagments  is  the 
one  element  that,  more  than  any  other,  has  differentiated 
this  tribunal  from  those  strictly  judicial.  It  is,  further,  the 
one  element  that,  more  than  any  other,  has  spared  the  appel- 
late authority  from  the  active  warfare  of  the  courts.  For 
the  courts  have  felt  that,  without  power  to  assess  damages 
or  find  the  liability  on  contracts,  the  judgment  of  the  super- 
intendents could  infringe  their  authority  but  slightly.  And 
the  State  Superintendents,  conscious  of  the  significance  of 
the  reservation,  have  scrupulously  avoided  any  exccess  of 
jurisdiction  at  this  point,  and  in  their  decisions,  their  publi- 
cations of  the  school  laws,  and  their  instructions  to  county 
superintendents  have  emphasized  this  restriction  more  than 
any  other. 

The  Supreme  Court  has  assisted  in  the  ascertainment 
both  of  the  extent  and  the  methods  of  the  appellate  tribunal. 
And  in  so  doing  it  has  imported  into  this  authority  a  num- 
ber of  legal  forms  and  technicalities  that  have  given  it  some- 
thing the  complexion  of  an  ordinary  court. 

The  finality  of  the  decision  in  matters  properly  before  the 


5  8  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  10  WA  [  jg 

school  tribunal  has  been  supported  by  the  Supreme  Court, 
in  the  sense  that  no  court  will  review  or  set  aside  such  a 
decision.^  And  the  fact  that  the  power  has  a  large  element 
of  the  judicial  character  has  not  led  the  courts  to  overturn  it 
as  in  violation  of  the  constitutional  provision  that  the  judi- 
cial powers  of  the  government  shall  be  exercised  by  the 
courts.  In  one  of  the  earliest  cases,  a  case  decided  in  1864,* 
the  question  of  constitutionality  was  raised,  but  the  court 
held  that  the  action  of  boards  and  superintendents  contem- 
plated was  ministerial,  saying,  "  None  will  claim  that  the 
statute,  defining  and  regulating  the  duties  and  powers  of 
the  school  boards  of  directors  invests  them  with  judicial 
powers.  Their  acts  and  their  authority  in  their  nature  are 
ministerial,  and  not  judicial.'  The  superintendent  in  re- 
versing the  same  on  appeal  is  limited  necessarily  to  the  same 
subject  and  to  the  exercise  of  the  same  kind  of  power,  and 
when  the  statute  says  his  decision  shall  be  final,  it  means 
simply  as  a  ministerial  act."  In  later  cases,  however,  the 
courts  have  spoken  of  the  power  as  "  judicial "  *  or  ''quasi 
judicial."  ' 

The  courts  have  recognized  that  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
school  tribunals  is  to  a  certain  extent  exclusive.  Usually 
in  those  cases  where  they  provide  an  adequate  remedy  the 
courts  will  not  interfere.  For  example,  it  has  been  held 
that  mandamus  to  compel  action  by  a  Board  of  Directors 
will  not  lie  where  the  aggrieved  party  has  a  right  of  appeal 

1  fVood  vs.  Farmer  et  al.,  69  la.,  533;  Munn  vs.  School  Township,  no 
la.,  652. 

«  District  Township  vs.  Pratt,  17  la.,  16. 

«  In  Kirkpatrick  vs.  Independent  School  District,  53  la.,  585,  the  court  said 
of  the  school  tribunal,  "  It  may,  perhaps,  be  said  to  exercise  judicial  functions,  but 
it  does  so  only  in  a  very  slight  sense.     It  is  certainly  not  a  court." 

•  Desmond  vs.  Independent  District,  71  la.,  23. 

*  Rodders  vs.  Independent  District,  100  la.,  317. 


59]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  5^ 

to  the  county  superintendent/  And  a  teacher  claiming- 
that  he  is  wrongfully  discharged  by  a  Board  of  Directors 
for  incompetency  cannot,  on  the  ground  that  the  discharge 
is  void,  maintain  an  action  for  his  salary  without  first  ap- 
pealing to  the  school  tribunal.^  The  cases  where  the  courts 
have  claimed  on  their  part  an  exclusive  or  concurrent  juris- 
diction in  addition  to  those  involving  a  contract  or  money 
judgment,  which  the  statutes  have  reserved  exclusively  to 
them,  are  as  a  rule  cases  in  which  one  or  another  of  the 
extraordinary  writs  is  necessary  to  a  speedy  and  adequate 
remedy.  In  the  case  of  mandamus  this  finds  a  further  sup- 
port in  the  statute  itself.  The  law  provides  that  appeals 
may  be  taken  only  from  a  "  decision  or  order,"  and  this  has 
been  interpreted  to  preclude  appeal  in  case  of  omission  or 
failure  to  act.  Here  it  has  been  held  that  mandamus  is  the 
only  means  of  compelling  action.^  Where  a  board  exceeds 
its  jurisdiction  certiorari  has  been  designated  as  the  proper 
remedy,*  and  where  the  question  involves  the  construction 
of  a  statute  conferring  power  upon  school  ofBcers  the  courts 
have  quite  readily  assumed  jurisdiction  either  in  mandamus^ 
certiorari  or  injunction.  It  is  at  this  point  chiefly  that  they 
have  insisted  on  sharing  authority  with  the  superintendents, 
or  even  restricting  their  authority.  And  in  this  point  the 
motive  has  doubtless  been  more  to  guard  the  integrity  of 
the  powers  of  the  courts  than  to  afford  a  supplementary 
remedy;  it  has  been  a  jealous  motive.  The  statute  provides 
that  the  appeal  may  be  taken  from  a  "  decision  or  order 

*  Marshall  vs.  Sloan^  35  la.,  445. 

•  Kirkpatrick  vs.  Independent  School  District,  53  la.,  585.  Of  the  school 
tribunals  the  court  in  this  case  said,  "  It  will  be  observed  that  they  provide  a  mode 
that  is  exceedingly  simple  and  inexpensive,  and  yet  one  which  is  superior  in  many 
respects  to  that  which  could  be  furnished  by  the  courts." 

»  School  Laws,  1902,  note,  p.  86.        ^District  Township  vs.  Pratt,  17  la.,  16. 
^Perkins  vs.  Board  of  Directors,  56  la.,  476. 


60  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [$0 

.  .  .  in  a  matter  of  law  or  fact."  Decisions  in  matters  of 
fact  the  courts  will  little  disturb,  as  most  of  such  deci- 
sions are  hardly  different  from  those  of  juries  or  referees; 
but  they  are  very  alive  to  any  matter  involving  a  construc- 
tion of  the  law,  for  the  power  to  construe  the  law  is  the 
distinctive  earmark  of  the  judicial  office.  On  the  other 
hand  the  extraordinary  writs  are  frequently  essential  to  the 
maintenance  of  justice,  and  as  such  most  beneficial.  This 
is  nowhere  better  exemplified  than  in  those  cases  where  the 
slower  method  of  appeal  would  permit  the  consummation 
of  a  wrong  which  injunction  could  check  in  its  inception.* 
There  are  some  cases  where  the  courts  have  indicated  that 
proceedings  through  the  courts  would  be  more  appropriate 
than  those  by  way  of  the  school  authorities,  without  dis- 
allowing proceedings  through  the  latter  channel.  Then 
there  have  been  cases  in  which  there  is  little  choice  of  meas- 
ures, or  perhaps  little  real  necessity  for  the  existence  of 
more  than  one,  but  in  which  the  courts  have  none  the  less 
defended  their  jurisdiction.^  In  other  States  a  litigant  has 
sometimes  been  subjected  to  a  forfeiture  in  case  he  pursues 
a  right  in  a  court  when  a  remedy  equally  expeditious  is  open 
to  him  in  a  school  tribunal,^  but  in  Iowa  if  the  right  is  one 
which  under  the  decisions  of  the  courts  the  litigant  has  full 
right  to  pursue  in  the  courts,  he  is  not  discouraged  from 
appearing  there. 

The  powers  of  the  superintendents  when  acting  within 
their  jurisdiction  are  in  some  respects  broad.  The  courts 
have  decided  that  in  cases  of  appeal  from  the  action  of  a 
School  Board  the  superintendents,  State  or  county,  have 
jurisdiction  de  novo  by  the  appeal,  and  can  enter  any  order 

1  HinkU  vs.  Saddler  et  al,  97  la.,  526. 

'  Rodger 5  vs.  Independent  School  District,  100  la.,  317. 

»  J.  A.  Fairlie,  Centralization  of  Administration  in  New  York  State,  p.  42. 


6 1  PUBLIC  ED  UCA  TION  5 1 

that  the  board  could  have  made  in  the  matter/  The  State 
Superintendent,  it  has  been  decided,  has  the  power  of  cor- 
recting mistakes  in  rendering  a  judgment  in  a  case  before 
him  possessed  by  all  courts  and  judicial  officers.^  And 
when  an  appellate  tribunal  is  unable  to  decide  an  appeal 
because  the  testimony  is  insufficient  or  the  transcript  of  the 
action  of  the  board  is  incomplete,  and  the  facts  are  not  suffi- 
ciently shown,  the  case  may  be  remanded  for  a  new  trial, 
or  for  further  action  by  the  Board/  But  in  other  ways  the 
power  of  the  superintendents  is  much  less  than  that  of  courts 
of  law.  Although  the  Code  gives  the  county  superintendent 
power  to  issue  subpoenas  for  witnesses  and  "  compel  the 
attendance  of  those  thus  served,  and  the  giving  of  evidence 
by  them,  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the  same  extent  as  the 
district  court  may  do,"  *  it  still  seems  that  he  has  no  power 
of  committal  or  fine  for  contempt,  and  can  only  appeal  to 
the  ordinary  judicial  authority  for  assistance  therein/  The 
county  or  State  tribunals  have  not  been  given  power  to 
enforce  their  decisions.  In  New  York  this  has  been  accom- 
plished indirectly  by  granting  to  the  State  Superintendent 
authority  to  withhold  a  district's  share  of  the  school  support 
in  case  of  failure  to  observe  the  decision,  or  by  removal." 
In  Iowa  a  person  in  whose  favor  an  appeal  has  been  decided 
has  the  remedy  of  a  writ  of  mandamus  from  a  court  of  law 
to  enforce  the  appeal.^  As  regards  the  costs,  however,  such 
a  circuitous  course  is  not  necessary.  If  a  county  superin- 
tendent is  of  the  opinion  that  the  proceedings  were  insti- 
tuted without  reasonable  cause  therefor,  or  if,  in  case  of  an 

'  Munn  vs.  School  Township^  1 10  la.,  652. 

*  Desmond  vs.  Independent  District^  71  la.,  23. 

»  School  Laws,  1902,  p.  89.  *  Code,  1897,  §  2821. 

»  School  Laws,  1902,  p.  88.  •  Fairlie,  op.  cit.,  p.  44. 

»  Wood  vs.  Farmer  et  al.,  69  la.,  533 .  Newby  vs.  Free  et  al,  72  la.,  379. 


62  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [52 

appeal,  it  is  not  sustained,  he  is  required  to  enter  the  find- 
ings in  the  record,  and  tax  all  costs  to  the  party  respc>nsible. 
A  transcript  is  to  be  filed  in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  the 
District  Court  and  a  judgment  entered  by  him,  which  is  to 
be  collected  as  other  judgments/ 

The  State  Superintendent  has  contributed  to  the  rules  of 
procedure,  the  statutes  and  the  Supreme  Court  decisions 
not  having  occupied  the  entire  field.  Some  of  his  rules  are 
in  mandatory  terms,  but  the  greater  number  are  permissive 
and  advisory  in  nature.  Moreover,  he  prescribes  forms  for 
use  in  appellate  proceedings  in  common  with  forms  for  use 
in  school  business  generally.  The  rules  are  to  be  gleaned 
from  his  decisions.  For  instance,  he  has  decided  that  ap- 
pearance at  the  trial  is  a  complete  waiver  of  notice,  that 
testimony  to  be  legal  must  be  under  oath,  that  testimony 
unless  obviously  immaterial  should  be  admitted  and  given 
such  weight  as  it  merits,  and  that  at  the  hearing  before  the 
State  Superintendent  parties  interested  may  appear  person- 
ally or  by  attorney  and  argue  their  cases  orally  if  they  desire, 
or  they  may  send  written  or  typewritten  arguments. 

There  is  not  a  great  variety  in  the  matters  involved  in 
these  school  cases.  A  great  number  of  them  relate  to  selec- 
tion or  change  of  school  sites,  another  large  group  to  the 
discharge  of  teachers  by  Boards  of  Directors.  Changes  of 
district  boundaries  are  sometimes  brought  in  question,  and 
cases  involving  the  redistricting  of  townships,  and  refusals 
to  restore  territory  or  to  establish  boundaries  appear.  The 
suspension  or  expulsion  of  pupils  and  questions  as  to  the 
corporation  in  which  they  shall  be  allowed  to  attend  school 
frequently  reach  the  State  Superintendent.  The  foregoing 
matters  relate  generally  to  orders  or  decisions  of  Boards  of 
Directors.     Those  in  which  a  decision  of  the  county  super- 

^Code,  i897,§2S2i. 


63]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  63 

intendent  in  a  matter  in  which  he  has  original  jurisdiction 
is  appealed  to  the  State  Superintendent  relate  almost  entirely 
to  refusal  to  grant  certificates  to  teachers,  or  their  revocation 
when  once  granted. 

We  may  note  the  character  of  some  of  these  decisions; 
first,  those  where  an  act  of  a  Board  of  Directors  is  appealed, 
second,  the  case  of  appeals  from  the  decisions  made  in  the 
exercise  of  the  original  powers  of  county  superintendents. 

In  case  of  appeals  from  decisions  of  Boards  of  Directors 
discharging  teachers  the  State  Superintendent  has  been  prone 
to  safeguard  as  fully  as  he  may  the  rights  of  teachers.     He 
has  refused  to  admit  the  validity  of  a  discharge  not  made 
upon  full  and  fair  invtstigation ;  he  has  decided  that  a  teacher 
may  not  be  discharged  at  a  special  meeting  called  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  a  modification  of  his  contract.     In  the 
selection  of  a  site,  when  a  board  violates  law  or  abuses  its 
discretionary  power,  its  action  has  been  reversed  on  appeal 
and  the  Superintendent  has  himself  undertaken  to  deter- 
mine what  the  intent  of  the  school  electors  was  concerning 
the  location  of  a  site  and  issue  his  order  accordingly.     The 
right  of  the  board  to  provide  and  enforce  a  course  of  study 
has  been  determined  in  its  favor.     It  has  been  held  that  an 
appeal  may  be  taken  from  the  decision  of  the  board  to  place 
a  petition  on  the  table.      Boards  attempting  to  exercise 
jurisdiction   over   children   after   the   termination    of   the 
school   year  have  been   declared   to   have   exceeded   their 
powers.     And  where  the  right  of  a  teacher  to  punish  a  child 
has  come  before  the  State  Superintendent  he  has  held  that 
the  right  of  the  parent  to  restrain  and  coerce  obedience  in 
children  applies  equally  to  the  teacher  or  to  any  one  who 
acts  in  loco  parentis.     The  conclusion  from  this  decision 
has  been  that  the  teacher  may  inflict  corporal  punishment. 
This  decision  of  itself  is  sufficient  to  indicate  that  the  appel- 
late power  of  the  superintendent  is  of  real  significance. 


64  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  10  WA  rg^ 

Although  the  rendering  of  judgments  for  money  and, 
consequently,  judgments  on  contracts,  are  prohibited  to  the 
school  tribunals,  the  decision  of  a  county  or  State  Super- 
intendent does  in  fact  sometimes  determine  the  direction  of 
a  money  payment.  For  instance,  it  has  been  held  that  an 
appeal  from  the  action  of  directors  in  apportioning  the 
assets  and  liabilities  of  new  districts  may  be  taken,  and  the 
final  judgment  of  the  county  superintendent  be  enforced  by 
action.^ 

The  power  of  the  State  Superintendent  to  review  the 
action  of  a  county  superintendent  in  refusing  to  grant  or  in 
revoking  a  certificate  is  remarkable,  because  only  by  broad 
construction  can  it  be  inferred  from  the  law,  and  because 
it  grants  him  a  power  which  the  courts  themselves  have 
refused  to  exercise.^  Once  an  officer  has  exercised  his  dis- 
cretion a  court  will  not  interfere  with  it ;  it  will  only  compel 
him  to  act,  and  "  the  power  of  the  court  is  at  an  end  when 
the  officer  has  acted,  however  wrongfully  \^sic\  his  action 
may  be,  in  the  opinion  of  the  court."  ^  The  State  Superin- 
tendent, however,  has  made  it  necessary  that  in  ordinary 
circumstances  at  least  the  county  superintendent  shall  be 
appealed  to  for  a  rehearing  before  the  decision  can  be  carried 
to  him  for  review.*  And  it  may  be  said  that  the  State 
Superintendent  would  refuse  relief  unless  there  had  been 
an  evident  abuse  of  discretion  on  the  part  of  the  county 
superintendent.  Among  other  cases  in  which  the  county 
superintendent's  power  to  act  has  been  adjudicated  is  one 
deciding  that  he  may  refuse  to  enroll  such  persons  as  mem- 
bers of  a  normal  institute  as  he  has  reason  to  believe  are 
morally  deficient.  The  remainder  of  the  cases  are  of  minor 
importance. 

An  examination  of  the  cases  decided  by  county  superin- 

"^ Independent  School  Dist.  vs.  Independent  School  Dist.,  45  la.,  39 1. 
^Bailey  vs.  Ewart,  52  la.,  ill.         *  Idem.        *  School  Laws,  1902,  p.  90. 


65  ]  PUBLIC  ED UCA  TION  6  j. 

tendents  during  the  last  thirty  years  makes  it  apparent  that 
there  has  been  a  gradual  falHng  off  in  numbers.  In  1873 
there  were  179,  in  1877,  123,  in  1881,  107,  in  1885  ^^^ 
1886  a  sHght  increase,  there  being  no  and  114  respectively 
for  these  two  years,  but  from  1886  down  to  1891  there  was 
a  steady  diminution,  as  follows:  1887,  96;  1888,  jy\  1889, 
65;  1890,  48.  In  1 89 1  the  number  shot  upward  to  78, 
but  the  decline  began  almost  immediately,  and  during  the 
five  years  from  1896  to  1902  there  was  an  average  of  about 
45  a  year.  The  cases  carried  up  from  the  county  to  the 
State  Superintendent  in  recent  years  have  numbered  less 
than  half  those  decided  in  the  counties.  This  marks  at  least 
one  advantage  in  the  system  of  inferior  and  superior  tri- 
bunals. It  tends  to  arrest  a  large  number  of  cases  of  lesser 
importance  at  the  first  decision,  and  so  relieve  the  State 
Superintendent  of  what  otherwise  might  be  an  excessive 
burden.  The  falling  off  in  the  number  of  cases  may  be 
explained  in  part  by  the  fact  that  as  the  country  has  been 
settled  and  the  school  boundaries  and  sites  fixed  the  possi- 
bility of  disputes  on  these  points  has  materially  lessened. 
The  tendency  of  the  county  superintendents  to  advise  against 
appeals,  and  the  little  time  they  have  to  give  to  them,  have 
no  doubt  also  contributed  to  their  reduction,  while  the  alter- 
native processes  at  law  which  the  courts  have  gradually 
offered  to  the  discontented  have  probably  attracted  many 
cases  that  otherwise  might  have  gone  to  swell  the  superin- 
dents'  lists. 

Another  important  phase  of  the  operation  of  the  system 
is  found  in  the  affirmance  or  reversal  of  county  superin- 
tendents' decisions  by  the  State  Superintendent.  Of  those 
cases  deemed  of  sufficient  importance  to  find  a  place  in  the 
published  school  laws,  not  all  cases  appearing  there,  as  the 
State  Superintendent  in  preparing  such  laws  is  given  power 
to  exclude  such  as  he  deems  of  little  moment,  the  majority 


66  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  10  WA  [55 

have  been  reversals.  Of  the  twenty-eight  decisions  re- 
viewed by  the  State  Superintendent  from  January  i,  1898, 
to  October  i,  1899,  thirteen  were  affirmed,  two  modified 
and  affirmed,  five  reversed,  three  reversed  and  remanded, 
two  dismissed,  two  remanded,  and  one,  a  petition  for  re- 
hearing, denied.  It  is  evident  from  these  facts  that  the 
State  Superintendent  exercises  a  vigorous  independence  in 
his  decisions,  and  is  not  disinchned  to  reverse  an  inferior 
officer  whenever  it  may  seem  to  him  necessary,  or  on  the 
other  hand  to  adapt  the  decision  to  the  equities  of  the  case. 
This  bespeaks  the  need  of  the  superior  tribunal,  for  appa- 
rently injustice  would  be  done  without  it.  And  so  frequent 
are  the  modifications  and  reversals  that  it  is  matter  of  sur- 
prise perhaps  that  it  is  not  taken  greater  advantage  of,  and 
the  number  of  appeals  to  it  increased. 

From  ,this  partial  analysis  of  the  work  and  operation  of 
the  appellate  system  it  is  apparent  that  it  contributes  very 
largely  to  the  strength  of  the  State  super intendency,  and  in 
a  measure  at  least  to  that  of  the  county  superintendency. 
The  knowledge  that  in  a  certain  large  class  of  questions  the 
State  Superintendent  may  alter  their  decisions,  perhaps  en- 
tirely disallow  them,  will  make  a  Board  of  Directors  careful 
how  it  proceeds,  and  will  compel  it  to  look  beyond  the  hori- 
zon of  its  own  narrow  authority  to  see  how  the  schools  work 
elsewhere  in  the  State,  and,  with  care  that  otherwise  might 
not  be  exercised,  examine  what  is  law  and  justice  in  school 
administration.  This  must  make  toward  uniformity  in  the 
schools  and  the  development  of  a  feeling  of  compactness, 
mutual  reliance  and  helpfulness,  and  the  spirit  of  organiza- 
tion. Furthermore,  the  liability  of  the  county  superintend- 
ent to  see  his  order  overturned  will  make  him  reflect  before 
he  refuses  a  certificate,  and  will  greatly  guard  tl-pe  schools 
in  the  county  from  administration  for  personal  ends  or 
ulterior  motives.     As  much  in  the  knowledge  that  this  power 


(57]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  67 

exists  and  can  be  brought  to  bear,  as  in  its  actual  exercise, 
does  its  virtue  exist.  It  is  perhaps  the  failure  to  recognize 
this  fact  more  than  anything  else  that  explains  the  criticism 
of  the  appellate  authority  indulged  by  school  officers  of  the 
State  on  several  occasions. 

In  the  brief  limits  of  this  discussion  any  attempt  to  com- 
pare the  school  tribunals  v^ith  the  administrative  courts  of 
continental  Europe  would  be  futile.  But  as  it  is  there  that 
the  administrative  court  has  reached  its  highest  develop- 
ment the  touchstone  of  their  experience  should  afford  some 
answer  to  the  several  difficulties  in  the  school  courts  of 
Iowa.  And  first  of  all  it  may  be  noted  that  clearer  definition 
of  the  powers  and  jurisdiction  of  county  and  School  super- 
intendents should  be  made.  The  words  of  the  Code  are 
only  the  most  general.  The  results  of  this  are  unfortunate 
in  several  respects.  Such  uncertain  language  has  led  indi- 
viduals from  caprice  and  passion  to  appeal  from  the  decision 
of  a  Board  of  Directors.  With  no  substantial  right  invaded 
or  denied  they  have  believed  that  here  was  a  remedy  for 
their  private  crotchets,  and  the  irascible  have  so  often  made 
demands  under  this  law  that  superintendents,  chiefly  because 
of  its  too  general  terms,  have  on  more  than  one  occasion 
advised  the  overturning  of  the  entire  system.^  Its  uncer- 
tainty is,  moreover,  a  great  tax  on  those  who  are  required 
to  interpret  it.  To  arrive  at  any  definiteness  of  opinion 
they  must  not  only  scan  the  act,  but  must  search  the  decisions 
of  previous  superintendents,  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and 
often  the  opinions  of  Attorneys-General.  The  school  law 
is  composed  of  a  written  and  an  unwritten  branch,  of  an 
administrative  and  a  judicial  law.  The  constitution  and 
statute  or  code  provisions  form  the  basis ;  these  are  written, 
and  are  both  administrative  and  judicial.     The  next  place 

» s.  /?.,  1861,  pp.  13, 14 ;  1865,  p.  27. 


68  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [53 

is  taken  by  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  which, 
though  primarily  judicial,  embrace  many  matters  confined 
to  the  administrative  courts  in  France  and  Germany.  These 
decisions  thus  have  an  important  administrative  bearing. 
The  decisions  of  the  State  Superintendent  are  entirely  ad- 
ministrative. The  opinions  of  the  Attorney-General  re- 
ferred to  are  such  as  are  given  upon  request  of  the  State 
Superintendent.  Of  recent  years,  especially,  the  State 
Superintendent  has  sought  the  advice  of  the  Attorney- 
General,  and  in  some  cases,  it  would  appear,  quite  allowed 
him  to  frame  the  school  decisions.  In  consequence  these 
opinions  are  given  great  weight,  and  often  are  printed  in 
the  school  laws  as  of  equal  importance  with  the  other  mat- 
ter contained.  The  two  classes  of  decisions  and  the  opin- 
ions make  up  the  unwritten  law.  Now  if  the  authority  of 
the  State  Superintendent  were  clearly  defined,  and  the  ex- 
tent of  his  jurisdiction  detailed  by  the  law,  the  labor  of 
search  and  liability  to  uncertainty  would  be  vastly  reduced. 
Of  course  under  almost  no  system  could  entire  relief  from 
the  necessity  of  consulting  decisions  be  obtained,  but  it 
could  be  approximated.  The  incidental  benefit  that  greater 
certainty  would  afford  to  complainants,  to  Boards  of  Di- 
rectors and  to  county  superintendents  is  so  manifest  that  it 
need  only  be  suggested,  and  if  the  jurisdiction  should  be 
made  more  definite  it  might  with  advantage  to  the  schools 
be  extended  somewhat.  It  seems  an  anomaly  that  the  super- 
intendents have  authority  when  Boards  of  Directors  have 
acted,  but  none  when  they  have  refused  to  act.  If  the  State 
or  county  superintendent  were  given  power,  within  certain 
limits,  to  perform  the  functions  of  such  boards  when  they 
fail  to  perform  them,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
directors  would  be  seldom  neglectful,  and  almost  never 
contumacious.  And  this  would  not  be  an  entire  innovation, 
for  under  the  township  school  inspector  system  the  school 


69]  PUBLIC  EDUCATWiV  ^ 

inspectors,  and  at  some  other  times  the  Boards  of  Directors, 
were  authorized  to  levy  taxes  when  the  school  electors  failed 
to  do  so.  When  district  meetings  have  acted  illegally,  with- 
out proper  notice,  or  in  evident  disregard  of  rights,  would 
it  not  be  well  if  the  school  tribunal  had  some  power  to  grant 
a  remedy?  The  New  York  law,  after  enumerating  the 
appellate  powers  of  the  State  Superintendent  in  detail,  finally 
provides  in  general  that  he  shall  have  jurisdiction  in  cases 
where  any  person  conceives  himself  aggrieved  in  conse- 
quence of  any  decision  made  by  "  any  other  official  act  or 
decision  concerning  any  other  matter  under  this  Act,  or  any 
other  Act  pertaining  to  common  schools."  ^  It  is  not  argued 
that  this  measure  of  power  should  be  given  the  Iowa  school 
tribunals,  but  it  is  submitted  that  sorne  extension  would  be 
wise. 

The  question  of  enforcement  of  decisions  is  closely  re- 
lated to  that  of  jurisdiction.  As  explained,  the  superin- 
tendents have  no  power  of  enforcement,  and,  except  in  the 
case  of  costs,  the  one  in  whose  favor  judgment  is  rendered 
can,  in  case  of  non-performance,  enforce  his  judgment  only 
through  mandamus.  Compliance  is  the  rule,  but  in  those 
cases  where  it  is  refused  it  seems  a  hardship  that  a  second 
action  should  be  necessary.  There  are  doubtless  a  number 
of  ways  in  which  the  State  Superintendent  could  be  made 
efficient  in  this  respect  without  derogating  from  the  au- 
thority of  the  courts.  One  that  readily  suggests  itself  is 
that  of  giving  the  superintendent  power  to  withhold  a  dis- 
trict's share  of  the  school  fund.  Although  he  has  no  part 
now  in  the  care  or  apportionment  of  these  funds,  there 
would  be  nothing  inconsistent  in  granting  him  authority  to 
stay  their  distribution  in  the  hands  of  the  county  treasurer 
until  the  local  Board  of  Directors  had  yielded  obedience. 

*  Consolidated  School  Law,  title  xiv. 


70  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [70 

The  obedience  of  the  county  superintendent  could  be  en- 
forced through  a  power  of  suspension  from  office.  This 
would  only  push  a  little  further  the  power  that  already 
exists  to  appoint  a  substitute  to  make  reports  when  the 
county  superintendent  fails. 

Again,  the  organization  of  the  State  Superintendent's 
office  in  its  relation  to  appeals  has  been  criticised.  And 
there  seems  a  need  for  almost  immediate  alteration  here. 
The  State  Superintendent  when  a  case  is  brought  before 
him  must  himself  hear  the  arguments,  read  through  all  the 
testimony  and,  except  as  he  may  be  assisted  by  the  Attorney- 
General,  advise  himself  of  the  law.  His  deputy  in  this, 
as  in  his  duties  on  the  several  Educational  Boards,  cannot 
represent  him  or  take  his  place.  The  consequence  is  that 
he  seldom  spends  less  than  two,  and  often  more,  days  in 
work  upon  a  single  case,  a  part  of  which  might  be  left  to  an 
assistant.  If  he  were  given  an  assistant  merely  to  read 
through  and  digest  the  testimony  his  labors  would  be  greatly 
lightened.  If  in  addition  that  assistant  were  required  to 
have  a  legal  education,  not  only  would  a  further  burden  be 
removed  from  the  shoulders  of  the  State  Superintendent,  but 
the  value  of  his  decisions  would  be  increased.  Courts  of 
law  have  their  methods  of  securing  assistance  in  their  work. 
They  have  their  referees  and  commissions,  juries  and  mas- 
ters, to  find  fact  and  evidence.  These  aids  are  incidents  of 
courts;  and  if  the  school  tribunal,  dignified  as  it  is  with  a 
final  jurisdiction,  is  worthy  of  the  powers  given  it,  it  does 
not  appear  why  their  exercise  should  not  be  facilitated. 

The  advisory  influence  of  the  State  Superintendent  mani- 
fests itself  in  a  variety  of  ways,  ways  that  indicate  how 
generally  he  has  been  regarded  as  an  advisory  officer.  The 
provision  that  he  shall  attend  teachers'  institutes  when  con- 
sistent with  his  official  duties,  that  he  shall  visit  teachers' 
association  meetings  and  make  tours  of  inspection  among 


7 1  ]  PUBLIC  ED  UCA  TION  y  I 

the  common  schools,  that  he  "  may  deliver  addresses  upon 
subjects  relative  to  education/'  and  may  collect  and  publish 
statistical  and  other  information  relative  to  schools  and 
education,  and  prepare  leaflets  and  circulars  relative  to' 
Arbor  Day,  Memorial  Day  and  other  days  that  he  deems 
worthy  of  observance  in  the  public  schools — ^these  powers 
all  attest  his  capacity  to  mold  the  public  school  system 
through  the  force  of  suggestion  and  advice.  His  power  to 
prepare  courses  of  study  for  use  in  the  public  schools  is 
little  more  than  advisory,  as  is  his  authority  and  duty  to 
render  opinions  on  the  school  law  when  requested  by  sub- 
ordinate school  officials.  He  has  been  made  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  State  University  and  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  College  of  Agriculture  and  Me- 
chanic Arts  because  of  his  familiarity  with  school  matters 
and  the  consequent  value  of  his  advice,  from  that  stand- 
point, to  these  institutions.  His  position  on  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  State  Normal  School  is  somewhat  different, 
for  he  is  its  president,  and  so  wields  an  influence  more 
direct  than  that  of  counsel.  His  membership  of  the  State 
Board  of  Educational  Examiners — so  small  is  that  body — 
also  gives  him  a  direct  administrative  strength  as  well  as  a 
large  advisory  influence. 

There  is  no  other  office  or  officer  that  touches  the  educa- 
tional system  in  all  its  parts,  no  other  in  which  experience 
with  the  common  schools  is  made  to  temper  the  attitude 
toward  higher  education,  or  knowledge  of  the  internal  ad- 
ministration of  the  colleges  of  the  State  sheds  its  direct 
light  upon  the  administration  of  the  grades.  This  is  an 
essential  fact  in  the  school  system.  And  it  is  no  less  essen- 
tial to  remember  that  the  force  which  binds  the  parts  to- 
gether thus  in  the  office  of  the  State  Superintendent  is  not 
the  force  of  direction  or  compulsion.  It  is  the  milder,  and 
some  may  say  weaker,  force  of  counsel  and  suggestion. 


72  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [73 

The  State  Superintendent  has  used  his  advisory  influence 
with  telling  effect  in  a  number  of  cases.  He  has  succeeded 
in  awakening  a  strong  sentiment  for  consolidation  of  rural 
schools  and  the  transportation  of  children.  The  crusade 
by  him  to  secure  this  end  was  undertaken  systematically,  by 
sending  to  county  superintendents  and  others  printed  forms 
seeking  full  information  and  free  expression  of  opinion 
on  the  matter,  by  preparation  of  circulars  showing  the  work 
done  elsewhere  in  this  direction,  and  the  ways  in  which  the 
experience  of  others  could  be  adapted  to  the  conditions  in 
Iowa.  So  thoroughly  did  the  Superintendent  disseminate 
this  information,  and  so  skilfully  did  he  make  his  case,  that 
among  the  county  superintendents,  ninety-five  per  cent,  of 
whom  favored  the  reform,^  and  among  a  large  body  of 
teachers,  a  strong  sentiment  for  this  improvement  was 
awakened.     This  must  mean  advancement  in  the  future. 

State  Superintendents  in  the  past  have  attempted  to  aid 
school  districts  to  secure  good  plans  for  their  school  houses. 
This  has  been  in  response  to  a  feeling  on  the  part  of  some 
of  the  rural  districts  that  naturally  he  should  have  in  his 
office  a  number  of  such  plans  to  be  loaned  to  districts  intend- 
ing to  build.  And  to  meet  this  need  a  Superintendent  has 
asked  authority  from  the  Legislature  to  employ  architects  to 
prepare  such  plans  and  specifications.^  But  this  has  not  as 
yet  been  granted,  and  the  Superintendent  has  done  the  next 
best  thing ;  he  has  secured  cuts  of  buildings  already  erected, 

*  S.  R.y  190I,  pp.  35,  36.  This  report,  at  p.  73,  states  that  "  Consolidation  has 
been  tried  in  twenty-eight  counties,  transportation  in  thirty,  five  and  both  in  nine- 
teen. Consolidation  has  been  adopted  by  sixty-three  districts,  and  eighty  districts 
have  transported  pupils  at  the  expense  of  the  district.  In  nine  counties  districts 
have  been  consolidated  without  providing  transportation  at  the  expense  of  thedis- 
dricts.  In  sixteen  counties  pupils  have  been  transported  where  there  was  no  con- 
solidation." 

•5.^.,  1893.  p.  18. 


73]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  73 

which  he  prints  in  his  biennial  report.  The  report  of  1901 
devoted  forty  pages  to  this  purpose.  From  1848  ^  to  the 
present  day  superintendents  have  at  intervals  attempted  in 
this  way  to  fill  the  need,  but  with  the  slight  means  at  their 
disposal  have  not  accomplished  over  much.  The  school 
houses  have  improved.  In  1861  the  log  school  house 
began  to  disappear.  In  that  year  there  were  893  such  school 
buildings  out  of  a  total  of  3,479.  In  1849  the  average 
value  of  each  of  the  387  school  houses  was  $100;  in  i860 
the  average  of  the  3,208  was  $376;  in  1874  the  9,228  then 
reported  were  worth  on  an  average  $892,  and  in  1892, 
$1,040  ^  was  the  average  value  of  the  13,275  schools  of  that 
time.  Thus  there  has  been  a  gradual  betterment,  but  a 
betterment  due  rather  to  the  increasing  population  than  the 
dozen  or  so  second-hand  plates  contained  in  the  school 
reports.     There  is  place  here  for  beneficial  legislation. 

The  courses  for  schools  prepared  by  the  State  Superin- 
tendent and  sent  broadcast  over  the  State  have  contributed 
markedly  to  uniformity  in  instruction.  The  inspections, 
lectures  and  written  opinions  of  the  State  Superintendent 
have  all  brought  information  and  suggestion  to  doors  where 
it  is  avidly  received  and  made  the  most  of.  And  the 
Superintendent  in  his  direction  of  county  superintendents* 
conventions  and  his  acknowledged  primacy  in  the  State 
Teachers'  Association  has  often  spoken  the  word  or  given 
impetus  to  the  movement  that  has  resulted  in  a  consensus  of 
opinion,  and  adoption  of  measures  by  school  ofificials  that 
have  done  as  much  to  improve  the  school  system,  to  supple- 
ment or  even  fill  gaps  in  the  law  as  legislation  itself  has 
done.  The  State  has  been  fortunate  in  the  character  of  the 
men  who  have  held  the  ofBce  of  Superintendent.  Their 
opinion  has  usually  carried  the  weight  of  high  character 
and  strong  personality,  and  in  this  way  weak  powers  have 

1  C  7.,  1848-49,  pp.  3»o.  31 1-  '  ^'  ^''  ^^93.  P-  184. 


74  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [74 

often  proved  strong  and  the  schools  made  efficient  in  spite 
of  l^al  inadequacies. 

We  shall  not  pause  here  to  inquire  into  the  details  of  the 
State  Superintendent's  advisory  powers  in  the  several  State 
Educational  Boards  and  bodies.  These  will  sufficiently 
appear  in  the  discussion  of  those  institutions,  and  particular 
examination  of  the  Superintendent's  relations  to  them  would 
make  needless  repetition. 

2.    STATE  EDUCATIONAL  BOARDS 

It  has  been  noted  in  the  historical  sketch  of  the  school 
administration  that  centralization  has  taken  two  forms,  the 
first  in  the  increase  of  the  State  Superintendent's  powers, 
and  the  second  in  the  development  of  State  Educational 
Boards  or  auxiliary  institutions  having  certain  well-defined 
powers  hitherto  unknown  to  the  central  authority.  These 
boards  and  institutions  have  been  the  State  Board  of  Edu- 
cational Examiners,  the  State  Teachers'  Association,  and 
the  Boards  of  Trustees  of  the  State  University,  the  State 
College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts  and  the  State 
Normal  School.  We  may  examine  them  in  the  order  men- 
tioned. 

a  The  State  Board  of  Educational  Examiners 
Previous  to  the  year  1861  the  examination  of  teachers, 
what  little  there  was,  was  conducted  entirely  by  district, 
township  or  county  officers.  Previous  to  1858  it  was  by 
district  or  township  officers  entirely.  At  two  dififerent 
periods,  from  1838  to  1840*  and  from  1848  to  1858,^  it 
was  by  Boards  of  Directors.  During  the  concluding  years 
of  the  latter  period  in  the  particular  case  of  thickly-popu- 
lated districts  provision  was  made  for  a  special  local  Board 
of  Examiners,  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Directors,  and 

»  Z.,  1838-39,  ^f/  Jan.  1,  1839.  «  Z.,  1848-49,  c.  99. 


75]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  75 

consisting  of  "  three  competent  persons,  citizens  of  said 
district/'  ^  who  were  given  power  to  examine  appHcants  to 
teach,  to  issue  certificates  and  annul  them,  and  with  the 
Board  of  Directors  to  visit  the  schools.  From  1841  to 
1847  the  examinations  had  by  law  been  vested  in  the  township 
inspectors,  but  there  was  much  complaint  that  this  duty  was 
not  performed  by  them  or  was  performed  unsatisfactorily. 
The  lack  of  some  uniform  standard  was  the  principal  ground 
of  complaint.  County  examination  of  teachers  was  not 
known  until  1858,  though  previous  thereto  a  State  Super- 
intendent had  recommended  that  the  county  school  fund 
commissioners  should  be  given  this  power. ^ 

The  Board  of  Educational  Examiners  of  the  State  as 
created  by  the  act  of  the  State  Board  of  Education  of  1861  ' 
was  substantially  a  reproduction  of  the  ideas  of  the  secre- 
tary of  the  latter  board  in  his  report  to  it  for  the  year.  He 
had  believed  that  the  Faculty  of  the  State  University  should 
constitute  the  board,  because  of  their  "  unquestioned  ability, 
and  as  a  matter  of  convenience  and  economy."  *  In  his 
recommendation  there  also  appeared  the  idea,  often  held  in 
the  early  school  history  of  the  State,  that  the  normal  depart- 
ment of  the  State  University  should  be  charged  with  the 
highest  authority  in  the  preparation  of  its  teachers.  He 
advised  that  the  professor  of  the  normal  department  should 
be  the  president  of  the  board.  The  board  thus  constituted 
was  to  hold  annual  sessions  of  one  week,  and  such  special 
sessions  as  they  might  deem  proper,  at  the  State  University. 
They  were  to  take  as  a  standard  of  the  qualifications  of 
applicants  the  course  of  study  required  in  the  normal  depart- 
ment of  the  University,  and  their  certificate — they  had 
but  one — was  for  life.     This  certificate  the  board  might 

» Z.,  1857,  c.  158.  '  '  Parker,  op.  cit.y  pp.  33,  34. 

L.  S.  B.  E.,  Dec.  20,  1861.  -  *  Sec.  Rep.,  1861,  pp.  16,  17. 


y6  ADMINIS  TRA  TION  OF  10  WA  [  75 

revoke  in  case  of  gross  immorality,  "  or  any  other  cause  of 
disqualification/'  of  which  cause  the  board  itself  was  to  be 
the  judge. 

The  board,  like  other  products  of  the  period,  was  almost 
a  failure.  It  was  a  creation  too  ideal  in  nature;  the  quali- 
fications required  were  probably  too  unfamiliar  to,  if  not 
too  advanced  for,  those  who  might  wish  to  teach.  As  a 
result,  during  the  time  this  law  remained  on  the  statute 
books,  but  seventeen  persons  applied  for  certificates,  eight 
of  whom  were  rejected.*  In  addition  the  board  issued 
certificates,  without  examination,  to  persons  holding  first- 
grade  certificates  from  some  other  State  and  to  graduates 
of  the  normal  department  of  the  State  University. 

This  law  was  repealed  in  1873,  and  from  then  till  1882 
there  was  an  interval  in  which  the  State  was  without  any 
central  examining  authority.  A  number  of  bills  for  a  new 
board  were  proposed  in  the  interim,  and  recommendations 
were  made  by  officials  for  something  to  take  the  place  of 
the  venture  of  1861.^  The  plan  finally  adopted  contained 
some  of  the  features  of  the  old  system,  but  others  so  foreign 
to  it  that  it  really  made  provision  for  a  totally  different 
institution.  The  old  system  was  imitated  by  making  the 
president  of  the  State  University  and  the  principal  of  the 
State  Normal  School,  which  had  now  come  into  being, 
members  of  the  board.  Besides  these  ofificers,  the  Superin- 
tendent of  Public  Instruction  was  made  an  ex-o-fhcio  member. 
And  two  others,  one  of  whom  should  be  a  woman,  were  to 
be  appointed  by  the  Executive  Council,  neither  to  be  his  own 
successor.^ 

Sessions  of  the  board  were  to  be  held  twice  annually,  to 
be  presided  over  by  one  of  the  members,  assisted  by  such 

» s,  R.,  1875,  p.  127.  •  s,  R..  1875,  P-  "7;  1877,  p.  67. 

»  Z.,  1882,  c.  167. 


77]  PUBLIC  EDUCATIOI^  yy 

well  qualified  teachers,  not  exceeding  two,  as  the  board 
should  elect.  It  was  given  power  to  issue  two  classes  of 
certificates,  first.  State  certificates,  good  for  five  years,  which 
called  for  an  examination  in  orthography,  reading,  writing, 
arithmetic,  geography,  English  grammar,  book-keeping, 
physiology,  history  of  the  United  States,  algebra,  botany, 
natural  philosophy,  drawing,  civil  government,  the  Consti- 
tution and  laws  of  Iowa,  and  didactics;  second,  State  diplo- 
mas, good  for  life,  requiring  in  addition  to  the  subjects 
essential  to  the  State  certificate  the  following:  geometry, 
trigonometry,  chemistry,  zoology,  geology,  astronomy,  po- 
litical economy,  rhetoric,  English  literature  and  such  other 
subjects  as  the  Board  of  Examiners  might  require.  They 
were  given  power  to  revoke  certificates  "  for  any  cause  of 
disqualification,  on  well-founded  complaint,  entered  by  any 
county  superintendent  of  schools.'* 

The  requirements  for  the  State  certificates  and  diplomas 
have  remained  unchanged,^  but  in  other  respects  there  have 
been  significant  alterations  and  additions  of  power.  The 
board  has  been  empowered  to  grant  "  special  certificates  " 
to  teachers  of  music,  drawing,  penmanship  or  other  special 
branches,  "  or  to  any  other  primary  teacher,  of  sufficient 
experience,  who  shall  pass  such  examination  as  the  board 
may  require  in  the  branches  and  methods  pertaining  thereto 
for  which  the  certificate  is  sought."  Such  certificates  are 
not  valid  for  any  branch  other  than  that  for  which  they  are 
given.  ^  Superintendents  have  also  recommended  that  the 
board  be  given  power  to  issue  special  certificates  to  high 
school  teachers,  based  upon  the  branches  usually  taught  in 
the  higher  schools  of  the  State.'  This  has  never  been  done, 
however,  and  would  seem  hardly  necessary,  as  the  high 

»  But  see  Z.,  1902,  c.  114. 

«  Cod€,  1897,  §  2630 ;  L.,  1900,  c.  96.       »  S,  R.,  1895,  P-  5'- 


7$  ADMINISTRATION  OB  IOWA  r^g 

school  teacher's  appHcation  is  usually  made  a  special  case 
by  his  employers,  and  high  school  teachers  as  a  class  are 
more  and  more  men  or  women  with  collegiate  training. 

In  1890  the  board  was  given  power  to  issue  its  certificates 
and  diplomas  to  graduates  of  the  State  Normal  School 
under  certain  conditions.  Although  at  about  this  time  it 
was  urged  that  the  board  should  be  allowed  to  inspect, 
whenever  invited,  the  courses  of  study  and  work  done  in 
private  schools  and  colleges  which  purpose  to  prepare  teach- 
ers, and  if  they  find  them  satisfactory  to  grant  certificates 
upon  certain  fixed  conditions,^  this  power  was  not  granted 
until  1902.^  Under  a  law  of  that  year  schools  applying  to 
the  board  are  examined  with  reference  to  course  of  study, 
equipment  and  faculty,  and  thereafter  an  enduring  relation 
is  established  between  these  private  institutions  and  the 
State  administration,  for  it  is  provided  that  schools  so  ex- 
amined shall  receive  annual  inspection  by  some  member  of 
the  board  or  some  one  appointed  by  it  for  the  purpose. 
And  the  principals  or  superintendents  of  schools  once  ac- 
credited must  file  annually  with  the  board  a  sworn  statement 
giving  statistics  concerning  the  students  in  attendance. 
The  board  has  received  a  number  of  applications  for  such 
inspection  since  the  law  went  into  operation,  and  it  is  be- 
lieved that  the  ultimate  result  will  be  to  make  it  the  informal 
director  of  teachers*  education  in  all  the  schools  of  the  State. 
This  acquisition  of  authority  certainly  adds  greatly  to  the 
place  and  importance  of  the  board. 

Though  under  the  act  of  1861  the  Board  of  the  University 
Faculty  granted  certificates  without  examination  to  teachers 
from  other  States  giving  evidence  of  due  preparation,  this 
power  was  not  given  to  the  new  board  until  1897.  It  was 
then  authorized  to  issue  a  certificate  or  diploma  "  to  any 
one  holding  a  diploma  issued  by  a  state  normal   school 

»5.  R.,  1891.  p.  62.  »Z.,  1902,  c.  115. 


79]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  yg 

or  a  certificate  issued  by  a  state  superintendent  or  a  state 
board  of  education,  of  any  other  state,  when  the  same 
is  in  all  respects  of  as  high  a  grade  as  the  corresponding 
certificate  or  diploma  issued  in  Iowa,  upon  proof  of  expe- 
rience." ^ 

Complaint  had  been  made  at  various  times,  notably  in 
1895,^  that  the  board  could  not  revoke  its  certificates  with- 
out the  initiation  of  the  county  superintendent,  the  law 
allowing  such  revocation  only  at  the  instance  of  the  county 
superintendent.  The  complaint  had  its  effect,  and  accord- 
ingly in  1897  the  board  was  given  plenary  power  in  the 
matter,  and  may  now  revoke  upon  due  notice  to  the  holder 
of  the  certificate  or  diploma,  and  after  allowing  him  to  be 
present  and  make  his  defense.^  The  board  was  strength- 
ened further  in  1898  by  the  provision  for  a  secretary,  under 
whom  the  examinations  are  usually  conducted,*  thus  reliev- 
ing the  other  members  of  a  burden  of  ministerial  work. 

The  number  of  teachers  necessary  to  supply  the  schools 
of  Iowa  in  1900  was  18,906.  On  September  30,  1901,  of 
the  certificates  and  diplomas  of  all  kinds  issued  by  the  board 
there  were  in  force  2,365.*^  So  something  more  than  one- 
eighth  of  the  teachers  of  the  State  are  examined  by  the 
board.  In  its  history  to  October,  1901,  it  had  issued  in  all 
3,741  certificates  or  diplomas,  and  in  addition  had  refused 
a  considerable  number.  In  1900-1901,  for  instance,  of  the 
1,100  candidates  for  certificates  or  diplomas  11 1  failed." 
The  number  of  examinations  has  steadily  grown,  and 
the  evidence  is  strong  that  the  State  examinations  are 
increasing  in  favor  with  the  teachers.  It  has  been  re- 
marked that  there  is  a  manifest  disposition  among  them  to 

»  Code,  1897,  I  2630 ;  and  for  results  see  S.  H.,  1899,  p.  177. 

«  S.  H.,  1895,  PP»  5 1'  5*         '  ^^"^^^  '^7.  §  2631.         *  Z.,  1898,0.  73. 

*  Computed  from  S.  /".,  1901,  p.  189.  «  S.  R.,  1901,  p.  188. 


8o  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  V%q 

work  first  for  the  certificate  and  afterwards  for  the  diploma/ 
And  the  examinations  have  been  not  a  source  of  loss,  but 
of  profit  to  the  State,  the  total  income  from  fees  at  the  last 
report,  for  the  period  1882-1901,  having  been  $12,479, 
while  the  total  expenses  were  but  $8,928.43.^  In  every  way 
the  State  examination  is  one  that  may  be  encouraged. 

The  preparation  of  the  teachers  of  the  State  is  not  yet 
what  it  should  be.  The  county  examination  is  not  ade- 
quate. It  fails  most  conspicuously  in  encouraging  the 
higher  preparation.  In  1900  of  the  18,906  teachers  neces- 
sary to  the  schools  of  the  State  nearly  8,000  had  less  than 
one  year's  experience,  while  12,615  in  country  schools  held 
county  certificates  of  the  second  and  third  class,  and  nearly 
6,000  had  received  only  such  scholastic  instruction  as  fs 
provided  in  the  rural  schools  and  the  smaller  cities  and 
towns. ^  These  conditions  have  been  made  the  basis  of 
arguments  for  additional  normal  schools.  They  as  well 
attest  the  need  for  a  general  raising  of  the  level  of  the  lower 
examinations,  for  only  in  this  way  will  the  inefficient  teach- 
ers be  eliminated.  And  it  would  seem  that  this  cannot  be 
done  without  a  greater  centralization,  without  State  super- 
vision and  direction;  for  as  long  as  there  are  99  county 
superintendents  issuing  certificates  just  so  long  will  there 
be  99  different  standards  and  looseness  and  uncertainty  of 
method.  And  while  this  system  continues  unmodified  it 
is  to  be  expected  that  many  county  superintendents  will 
be  skeptical  of  the  thoroughness  of  the  examinations  by 
their  fellows,  and  will  justly  resist  the  registration  of  cer- 
tificates issued  in  counties  other  than  their  own.  To  the 
argument  that  depriving  the  county  superintendents  of  the 
right  of  examination  would  reduce  the  office  to  a  powerless 

» .s.  7?.,  1895,  P*  5*'  '  "'<^*<'-»  '90'»  PP-  '^8, 189. 

s,  R.,  1901,  pp.  17,  126. 


8l]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  gl 

position — if  that  be  admitted  an  undesirable  prospect — 
strong  answer  is  found  in  the  suggestion  that  while  the 
State  board  is  given  the  power  to  issue  all  certificates,  that 
of  vetoing  the  board's  grant  in  case  the  candidate  lack  in 
moral  character,  aptness  to  teach  or  ability  to  govern  may 
be  reserved  to  the  county  authority.  It  is  believed  that  this 
is  a  subject  that  will  not  down,  that  discontent  will  grow 
among  those  who  reflect  upon  the  system  of  examinations 
in  Iowa,  and  that  unless  all  the  signs  of  the  times  are  false 
the  broad  result  will  be  central  control  of  the  preparation 
of  teachers  and  central  examination  of  those  seeking  to 
practice  their  profession. 

b.  The  State  Teachers'  Association  and  the  High  Schools. 

The  State  Teachers'  Association,  though  an  extra-legal 
organization,  claims  attention  because  it  has  provided  an 
element  in  the  school  administration  which  in  many  States 
is  found  in  regularly  constituted  officers  or  boards.  This 
element  appears  in  the  determination  of  courses  of  study 
and  the  standard  for  high  schools. 

The  term  "  high  school  "  as  a  specific  description  is  not 
known  to  the  laws  of  the  State. ^  And  at  no  time  has  there 
been  a  law  which  has  provided  sufficient  supervision  of 
intermediate  education.  The  very  general  power  of  the 
State  Superintendent  to  pass  upon  the  courses  of  instruc- 
tion in  "  higher  "  or  "  graded  "  schools  has  meant  almost 
nothing.  Very  few  courses  have  been  subniitted  for  his 
approval.^  He  has  no  inspectors,  or  other  than  office  assist- 
ants. He  cannot  himself  give  the  time  to  the  inspection 
of  these  schools  without  sacrifice  of  other  interests. 

*  L.,  1848-49,  c.  99,  was  the  first  law  to  contemplate  schools  of  advanced 
grade.  It  provided  that  school  directors  might  establish  «'  a  school  of  a  higher 
grade"  in  their  districts.  The  law  was  not  of  much  practical  significance  for 
many  years. 

*S.  R.,  1899,  pp.  43.  45.  46. 


82  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [82 

Failing  adequate  administrative  machinery,  the  Board  of 
Regents  of  the  State  University  and  the  State  Teachers' 
Association  have  lent  a  hand.  That  they  have  persuaded 
many  high  schools  to  adopt  their  courses  of  study  has  been 
largely  due  to  the  fact  that  they  exercise  a  real  power,  that 
of  accrediting  such  schools  to  the  colleges  and  universities 
of  the  State.  Every  high  school  is  anxious  to  become  thus 
accredited,  for  it  is  an  evidence  of  fitness. 

The  earlier  work  of  the  State  Teachers'  Association  was 
rather  advisory  in  character.  But  it  tended  constantly  to 
give  a  definite  meaning  to  the  term  "  high  school,"  which 
previous  to  1873  ^^^  signified  little  more  than  an  advanced 
graded  school,  until  now  it  is  a  more  exact  description  in 
Iowa  than  either  college  or  university. 

The  teachers  at  various  times  made  rules  and  outlined 
courses  for  high  school  instruction,  and  their  advice  met 
with  a  generous  reception  at  many  hands.  But  only  gradu- 
ally have  their  resolutions  been  given  almost  legal  force, 
and  become,  as  it  were,  a  part  of  the  school  law.  In  1900 
the  General  Assembly  authorized  the  State  Superintendent 
to  publish  and  distribute  a  course  of  study  for  high  schools. 
The  State  Teachers'  Association  having  for  several  years 
been  at  work  through  a  committee  on  a  manual  for  high 
schools,  it  was  thought  wise  that  the  school  department 
should  co-operate,  and  the  manual  prepared  by  the  associa- 
tion was  published  by  the  Superintendent.  By  considering 
the  peculiar  conditions  and  needs  of  Iowa  schools,  the  re- 
quirements for  a  high  school  course  suggested  by  the  Na- 
tional Educational  Association,  and  the  entrance  require- 
ments of  Iowa  colleges,  it  evolved  a  thorough  plan  of 
instruction.  It  also  prescribed  anew  rules  for  the  accrediting 
of  the  schools.^  Application  is  to  be  made  by  the  proper 
school  officer  to  the  secretary  of  the  committee  on  secondary 
^s.  K.,  1901,  p.  261. 


83]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  g^ 

school  relations,  or  to  the  professor  of  the  science  and  art 
of  teaching  in  the  State  University,  who  is  also  the  official 
recorder  of  the  committee  on  secondary  school  relations 
representing  the  college  department.  Upon  receipt  of  this 
application,  together  with  a  statement  of  the  high  school 
course,  an  analysis  of  the  course  is  made  in  the  office  of  the 
official  recorder.  After  the  high  school  has  been  inspected 
and  the  inspector's  report  and  the  analysis  of  courses  have 
been  submitted  to  the  committee  on  secondary  school  rela- 
tions, the  committee  will  accredit  the  school,  if  it  appears 
that  the  conditions  required  have  been  met.  It  will  be  seen 
that  the  State  University,  the  State  Superintendent  and  the 
State  Teachers'  Association  are  component  forces  in  this 
movement,  but  that  the  regulations  are  primarily  in  the 
name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  State  Teachers'  Associa- 
tion. If  the  State  is  to  assume  directly  the  supervision  of 
high  school  education  one  of  two  things  will  probably  be 
necessary,  either  the  power  of  the  State  Superintendent  will 
have  to  be  made  more  definite,  and  perhaps  increased,  and 
a  corps  of  inspectors  or  assistants  attached  to  his  office,  or 
a  State  Board  of  Education  created,  of  whose  authority  the 
direction  of  high  schools  may  be  made  a  part. 

3       THE   BOARDS   OF  TRUSTEES  OF   THE   STATE  EDUCATIONAL 
INSTITUTIONS 

From  the  first  higher  education  has  been  considered  a 
function  of  the  State.  The  policy  of  making  it  such  had 
its  origin  partly  in  the  conception  of  Commonwealth  duty 
entertained  by  early  legislators,  and  partly  in  the  incentives 
offered  by  the  United  States  government  in  the  public  land 
grants.  Other  States  whose  admission  shortly  preceded 
that  of  Iowa  had  been  given  lands  for  the  encouragement 
of  higher  education,  and  so  Governors  and  members  of  the 
Legislatures  and  of  the  constitutional  conventions  united 
in  the  effort  to  obtain  like  concessions. 


84  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  V^^ 

The  State  University  was  the  first  State  educational 
institution  to  appear.  A  law  of  1847  ^  provided  for  its 
organization,  but  it  had  no  real  existence  until  1854.^  The 
University  was  discontinued  a  few  years  thereafter,  but 
was  reorganized  in  1860/  The  project  was  cast  in  an 
ambitious  mold.  Indeed,  the  sanguine  expectations  of  the 
guardians  of  the  educational  interests  carried  them  so  far 
that  in  1849  ^^ey  provided  for  two  branches,  which  were 
in  fact  to  be  largely  independent,  and  which,  with  a  hope 
of  securing  further  national  aid,  were  given  a  basis  well- 
nigh  as  broad  as  that  of  the  State  University  itself.*  But 
the  aid  was  not  forthcoming,  and  the  interest  flagged  until 
in  the  Constitution  of  1857  ^^  possibility  of  three  or  more 
State  Universities  with  three  or  more  Boards  of  Trustees 
was  given  its  constitutional  quietus,  the  Constitution  of  that 
year  providing  that  the  University  should  be  established  at 
Iowa  City  without  branches  at  any  other  place,  and  that  the 
university  fund  should  be  applied  to  that  institution  and  no 
other. '^ 

In  1858  the  State  College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic 
Arts,  or,  as  it  was  then  called,  the  State  Agricultural  College 
and  Model  Farm,  was  established,®  and  in  1876  the  State 
Normal  School.^  The  State  Agricultural  College  was  but 
the  expansion  of  an  idea  that  had  been  entertained  from  the 
beginning  of  the  State,  and  had  found  expression  in  the  Con- 
stitution and  the  frequent  legislation  that  granted  support 
to  farmers'  institutes  or  in  other  ways  fostered  the  agricul- 
tural interests.  All  that  was  needed  to  bring  it  into  being 
was  a  touch  of  the  right  precipitant,  and  this  the  offering 

» Z.,  1846-47,  c.  125.  '  Parker,  op  cit.^  p.  79. 

^Report  of  the  Senate  Committee  of  Schools  and  State  University,  S.  J.,  p. 
227  ;  Parker  op.  cit.,  pp.  86,  87. 

*X.,  1849,  c.  114,  c.  115,  c.  117.  *Cons.,  1857,  Art.  9,  Subdiv.  i,  §  11. 

•Z.,  1858,  c.  91.  'Z.,  1876,  c.  129. 


85]  PUBLIC  ED  UCA  TION  8  5 

of  public  lands  by  the  United  States  government  afforded. 
The  State  Normal  School  was  the  late  fruit  of  a  seed  sown 
at  a  very  early  time.  An  act  of  1848  ^  had  provided  that 
the  State  should  be  divided  into  three  districts,  in  each  of 
which  should  be  established  a  normal  school  governed  by  a 
Board  of  Trustees  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 
the  State  University;  later  by  the  State  Superintendent.'^ 
There  were  several  appropriations  for  the  schools  and  efforts 
to  put  them  in  operation,^  but  they  amounted  to  little,  and 
until  the  State  Normal  School  was  established  in  1876  at 
Cedar  Falls  there  was  practically  no  State  instruction  for 
teachers  save  that  in  the  normal  department  of  the  State 
University. 

These  three  institutions  are,  and  throughout  their  history 
have  been,  governed  by  distinct  boards  that,  varying  fre- 
quently in  their  composition  and  sometimes  in  important 
elements  of  their  powers,  have  yet  constituted  independent 
administrative  bodies  under  no  superior  except  the  Legisla- 
ture and,  in  some  minor  points,  the  administrative  and  ex- 
ecutive departments  of  the  State  government.  For  a  brief 
period  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  State  University  was 
chosen  by  an  educational  board,  the  State  Board  of  Educa- 
tion, and  so  was  in  a  measure  amenable  to  it.*  But,  as  has 
been  pointed  out,  this  board  was  in  school  matters  the  State 
Legislature  for  the  period  from  1858  to  1863,  and  so  the 
case  may  be  argued  no  real  exception,  or,  if  one,  an  ab- 
normality, and  so  unimportant.  And  not  only  have  these 
boards  been  independent ;  there  has  been  little  close  relation, 
even  of  a  consultative  nature,  between  them.  The  State 
Superintendent  is  now  a  member  of  all  three  of  these  boards, 

1  Z.,  1848,  c.  78.  2X.,  1848,  c.  78;  Z.,  1851,  c.  74. 

3Z.,  185 1,  c.  74;  Z.,  1856,  c.  209.     These  instances  are  illustrative  merely, 
and  do  not  exhaust  the  material. 
*Z.,5.  B.  E.  Dec.  25,  1858. 


86  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  Tg^ 

and  is  president  of  the  board  of  the  State  Normal  School.^ 
The  Governor  has  for  many  years  been  a  member  and  presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  State  University.  In 
1898  he  and  the  State  Superintendent  were  made  members 
of  the  board  of  the  State  Agricuhural  College.  =^  Through 
the  Governor,  then,  there  is  the  opportunity  for  bringing 
the  State  University  and  the  State  Agricultural  College 
into  some  harmony  with  the  general  State  administration, 
through  the  State  Superintendent  of  making  known  to  all 
three  institutions  the  course  that  will  best  subserve  the  in- 
terests of  the  school  administrations,  but  there  is  nothing 
to  compel  this  harmony. 

The  board  of  each  institution  is  elected  by  the  General 
Assembly.  The  regents  of  the  State  University  are  com- 
posed of  one  member  chosen  from  each  congressional  dis- 
trict of  the  State  for  the  term  of  six  years,  while  the  six 
trustees  of  the  normal  school,  having  the  same  term,  are 
chosen  from  the  State  at  large.  ^  The  boards  are  non- 
partisan only  to  this  extent,  that  all  the  members  on  the 
same  board  may  not  be  of  the  same  political  party.  The 
presidents  of  the  three  institutions,  though  they  have  been 
members  of  their  respective  boards  in  the  past  are  no  longer 
so,  and  thus  the  administration  is  entirely  apart  from  the 
institutions  themselves. 

Of  the  powers  of  these  boards  it  may  be  said,  in  general, 
that  they  extend  with  little  limitation  to  the  full  supervision 
and  government  of  the  institutions.  Among  the  more 
important  powers  of  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  State 

*In  1847,  when  the  university  was  provided  for  he  was  made  ex-officio  presi- 
dent of  the  board,  Z.,  1847,  c.  125  ;  after  abolition  of  State  Board  of  Education  he 
was  at  first  omitted  from  the  Board,  L.,  1864,  c.  59;  again  made  a  member  in 
1870,  c.  87;  dropped  in  1873,  Code,  1873,  §  1587;  replaced  in  1876,  c.  147. 

»Z.,  1898,  c.  76.     However  the  State  Superintendent  had  previously  been  a 
member  of  the  Board  for  several  years. 
»  Code,  1897,  §  2609. 


87]  PUBLIC  EDUCATIOA  g^ 

University  are  the  power  to  appoint  and  discharge  the  presi- 
dent, professors  and  instructors,  to  grant  degrees  and  diplo- 
mas, and  authorize  the  sale  of  university  lands  and  the  in- 
vestment of  university  funds.  The  Board  of  Trustees  of 
the  State  College  of  Agriculture  has  similar  powers,  as  also 
has  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  State  Normal  School 
except  that,  this  school  having  no  special  estate  or  endow- 
ment of  its  own,  the  board  has  power  merely  to  make  requi- 
sitions upon  the  appropriation  of  the  State  Legislature. 

The  institutions  of  higher  education  have  prospered  under 
this  independent  board  system;  the  State  College  of  Agri- 
culture has  taken  a  place  in  the  front  rank  of  educational 
institutions.  The  State  University  is  not  so  prominent,  but 
this  is  hardly  due  to  any  defect  in  the  administrative  system. 
It  is  attributable  on  the  one  hand  to  the  comparative  new- 
ness of  the  State,  and  on  the  other  to  the  lack,  in  the  past,  of 
generous  appropriations.  The  State  Normal  School  has 
grown  by  leaps  and  bounds,  and  the  pressure  for  more  ade- 
quate facilities  is  becoming  strong,  many  of  the  neighboring 
States  having  three  or  more  such  institutions.^  There  is 
as  yet  little  call  for  any  great  degree  of  centralization  in  the 
administration  of  these  institutions.  They  are  still  in  their 
formative  period.  Their  character  is  not  developed.  And 
until  the  full  extent  of  the  service  that  higher  education 
must  perform  in  the  State  has  been  ascertained,  and  the 
consciousness  of  the  unity  of  all  educational  interests  has 
more  fully  developed  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  these  insti- 
tutions will  perhaps  develop  best  if  left  to  themselves  and 
their  separate  boards.  But  gradually,  step  by  step,  it  must 
appear  that  central  advice  and  central  supervision  will  in- 
crease greatly  the  economy  and  efficiency  of  this  branch  of 
the  school  system. 

The  independent  colleges  and  universities  of  the  State, 
1  s.  R.,  1899,  p.  33. 


88  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [88 

of  which  there  are  now  some  thirty-one,  have  been  allowed  to 
grow  as  they  would.  Legislatures  and  State  Superintend- 
ents have  ever  kept  their  hands  off.  And  this  has  probably 
been  the  necessary  price  of  their  establishment.  But  now 
that  they  have  taken  root  it  would  seem  that  the  time  had 
arrived  for  State  interference.  There  are  a  number  of  such 
institutions  maintaining  a  high  standard,  but  many  have 
courses  but  little  above  a  good  high  school  course.  Admin- 
istrative regulation  of  charters,  and  perhaps  of  d^rees  and 
courses,  is  a  remedy  needed  in  many  cases. 

V  The  Relations  of  the  Several  Branches  of  the 
School  Administration 
In  the  discussion  of  the  present  system  of  administration 
and  its  evolution  one  fact  or  tendency  has  stood  out  above 
all  others.  The  school  administration  is  not  closely  organ- 
ized. It  has  not  been  systematized  save  in  a  loose  and,  as 
it  were,  concessive  manner.  We  see  the  school  directors 
and  school  electors  shaping  willy-nilly  the  school  unit,  to 
the  destruction  of  uniformity  in  the  foundations  of  the 
schools.  We  see  the  county  superintendents  exercising 
powers  which  are  in  other  ways  exercised  in  part  or  par- 
ticipated in  by  central  administrative  authorities.  The 
county  superintendent  examines  teachers;  the  State  Board 
of  Educational  Examiners  examines  teachers;  the  State 
Superintendent  through  the  board  and  through  his  questions 
prepared  for  the  county  superintendents  examines  them. 
It  is  difficult  to  say  just  who  does  examine  them.  In  fact 
there  is  no  standard  test.  And  these  are  single  illustrations, 
that  might  be  multiplied,  of  the  nature  of  the  administra- 
tion. The  Legislature  in  many  instances  has  intended  and 
secured  decentralization,  in  several  it  has  intended  centrali- 
zation and  has  secured  it,  in  a  number  it  has  intended  cen- 
tralization and  failed  to  secure  it,  in  the  balance  it  has  in- 


89]  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  89 

tended  nothing  whatever — so  far  as  consistent  relationship 
of  one  part  to  another  is  concerned — and  has  secured  it. 

The  common  school  system  of  Iowa  is  theoretically 
symmetrical.  Many  Legislatures,  school  officials,  and  the 
courts  as  well,  have  contributed  to  the  theory  that  the  sys- 
tem is  the  common  school  system  of  the  State  and  not  of 
localities,  rising  in  well-defined  stages  from  the  primary, 
through  the  high  schools  to  the  State  University,  the  State 
University  as  well  as  the  lowest  grade  being  part  and  parcel 
of  the  "  common  school  systein."  There  is  thus  in  public 
opinion  the  foundation  for  a  well-rounded  system  of  school 
administration,  and  that  it  has  not  been  entirely  realized  is 
due  chiefly  to  the  bargaining  and  opportunistic  attitude  of 
the  General  Assemblies  and  their  failure  as  yet  to  grasp  at 
one  moment  all  the  interrelations  and  the  interdependence 
of  the  parts  of  the  school  administration. 

The  centralization  of  the  last  forty  years  has  been  in  re- 
sponse to  proved  needs.  At  each  addition  of  power  only 
a  part  of  the  school  system  has  been  in  review,  and  that  part 
alone  affected  by  the  law.  Very  naturally  the  result  is  a  some- 
what rambling  and  disjointed  structure.  Certain  definite 
powers  we  have  seen  are  already  in  the  hands  of  the  State 
authority.  Conspicuous  among  them  are  the  power  to  de- 
cide appeals,  the  power  to  direct  the  instruction  of  teachers 
in  the  counties,  a  measure  of  authority  in  the  examination 
of  teachers,  in  the  prescription  of  courses  for  the  high  schools, 
and  the  decentralized  State  control  of  the  State's  higher 
educational  interests.  But  it  is  in  the  indefinite,  the  as  yet 
not  fully  realized  powers,  that  the  progress  of  the  tendency 
toward  centralization  is  most  prominently  marked.  Au- 
thority has  been  brought  up  to  the  State  capital  under  a  veil. 
It  may  not  be  announced  for  five,  for  a  score  of  years,  but  it 
is  there,  and  all  that  is  needed  is  the  signal  which  shall  cause 
the  veil  to  fall  and  the  power  to  be  proclaimed.     The  power 


90  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  Tgo 

of  the  State  Superintendent  to  publish  the  courses  for  the 
common  schools;  this  with  the  change  of  a  word  or  two 
will  bring  the  power  to  direct,  to  a  large  extent,  the  observ- 
ance of  these  courses.  His  power  to  pass  upon  courses  in 
higher  schools  awaits  only  the  provision  for  assistants  in 
his  office  to  render  it  effective.  His  power  to  appoint  sub- 
stitutes when  county  superintendents  fail  to  make  reports 
is  the  next  step  to  the  power  to  appoint  substitutes  when 
they  fail  in  any  of  their  duties.  It  is  very  near  to  the  power 
of  removal.  The  ever  increasing  authority  of  the  Board 
of  Educational  Examiners  to  grant  various  certificates  on 
examination,  and  its  power  to  revoke  such  certificates,  is 
probably  not  far  from  a  complete  central  control  of  teachers' 
examinations.  Its  authority  to  inspect  private  normal 
schools  and  accredit  them,  and  to  enter  into  reciprocal  rela- 
tions with  other  States  in  granting  certificates,  clears  the 
way  for  the  assumption  in  time  of  almost  complete  direction 
of  the  educational  qualifications  of  teachers.  The  manual 
prepared  by  the  State  Teachers'  Association  and  published 
under  the  authority  given  the  State  Superintendent  to  pre- 
pare a  course  for  high  schools  has  created  a  standard  for 
high  schools  that  once  given  statutory  endorsement  may 
bring  the  day  of  State  examination  of  high  school  students. 
And  making  the  State  Superintendent  a  member  of  the 
boards  of  the  three  State  educational  institutions  and  presi- 
dent of  one  of  them,  and  the  Governor  a  member  of  two 
and  the  president  of  one,  has  pointed  the  way  toward  the 
welding  of  all  the  school  interests  under  one  supervisory 
authority.  In  fact  there  is  hardly  a  direction  in  which  some 
step  has  not  been  taken  toward  central  control  except  in  the 
matter  of  common  school  finance,^  other  than  the  school 

1  Of  late  years  there  have  been  some  slight  indications  that  the  State  has  been 
preparing  to  aid  the  schools.  In  1900  a  bill  providing  for  public  high  schools, 
which  should  be  supported  largely  at  State  expense,  passed  the  house  of  represen- 
tatives, but  failed  in  the  senate.     S.  R.,  1901,  pp.  15,  16. 


9  I  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  9 1 

fund,  and  the  regulation  of  the  independent  colleges  other 
than  normal  schools. 

It  has  been  pointed  out  wherein  a  change  in  the  school 
unit  has  long  been  desirable.  And  it  has  been  shown  that 
the  weakening  of  the  county  superintendency  through  the 
strengthening  of  the  central  administration  will  probably 
necessitate  a  reconstruction  of  the  county  administration. 
It  now  remains  to  ask  what  changes  may  be  wrought  in  the 
central  organization? 

Since  the  days  of  the  State  Board  of  Education  a  general 
State  council  of  trustees  of  public  education  has  not  been 
seriously  debated.  Yet  only  through  an  administrative 
council,  a  council  or  board  without  legislative  powers,  does 
the  way  seem  clear  for  elimination  of  the  wastes  of  the 
present  system.  As  it  now  exists,  with  its  independent 
boards,  there  is  much  duplication  and  much  failure  of  infor- 
mation, defects  that  the  consolidation  of  interests  would 
terminate.  It  is  of  course  to  be  admitted  that  the  several 
State  educational  institutions  need  particular  administra- 
tion, that  is,  each  needs  the  care  of  a  body  whose  attention 
is  devoted  chiefly  to  it.  And  the  common  schools  above  all 
need  direct  and  special  oversight.  But  these  things  the  idea 
of  a  State  council  of  trustees  does  not  fail  to  find  ample 
room  for.  It  may  be  made  up  of  a  series  of  boards,  one  for 
the  State  University,  one  for  the  State  Agricultural  College, 
one  for  the  State  Normal  School  and  the  instruction  and 
examination  of  teachers,  one  for  the  high  schools,  one  for  the 
primary  schools,  one  for  university  extension  or  otherwise, 
each  board  practically  independent  within  its  sphere.  But 
when  matters  of  general  interest,  or  matters  touching  more 
than  one  board,  are  under  consideration,  the  council  would 
act  in  boards  united,  or  a  sort  of  administrative  committee 
of  the  whole.  The  State  Superintendent  may  be  continued 
as  the  executive  chief  of  the  council.     It  is  not  so  much  in 


92  ADMINISl'RATIOxW  OF  IOWA  [gg 

the  organization  of  this  council  as  the  manner  of  choice  of 
its  members  that  the  difficulty  would  lie.  The  boards  of 
the  educational  institutions  elected  by  the  General  Assembly, 
and  the  State  Superintendent  chosen  by  the  electorate,  are 
now  dependent  upon  party  politics.  The  non-partisan  ele- 
ment in  the  boards  is  almost  entirely  wanting.  It  should 
be  extended.  And  the  manner  of  choice  of  the  council  should 
be  modeled  more  after  that  of  the  Board  of  Educational 
Examiners,  whose  members  obtain  their  place  by  virtue  of 
educational  office  or  by  appointment.  The  final  element 
should  be  an  increase  in  the  tenure  of  office.  In  this  way 
it  would  seem  a  State  council  whose  interests  were  those 
of  the  schools,  and  whose  qualifications  were  those  of  edu- 
cational administrators,  would  be  most  likely  to  be  obtained. 
Since  the  year  1870  Iowa  has  stood  first  or  second  among 
the  States  having  the  smallest  percentage  of  illiterates.  In 
some  points,  however,  it  has  fallen  below  other  States.  It 
has  paid  its  teachers  lower  salaries  than  many  States.  Its 
direct  assistance  to  high  schools,  to  normal  schools  and  to 
higher  education  in  general  has  been  considerably  less  than 
that  of  a  number.  But  on  the  whole  its  educational  progress 
has  been  remarkable.  For  this  reason  the  advocacy  of  bet- 
terments might  seem  impertinent  were  it  not  remembered 
that  the  upward  tendency  of  the  State,  its  striving  for 
improvement,  is  a  constant  invitation  to  such  recommenda- 
tions. The  State  has  claimed  the  schools  as  its  own.  Al- 
most unconsciously  it  has  by  gradual  degrees  brought  them 
nearer  perfection.  All  that  is  needed  then  is  to  encourage 
the  movement  in  the  groove  that  it  now  follows,  and  awaken 
the  instinctive  groping  to  a  conscious  knowledge  that  what 
it  wishes  and  is  aiming  for  is  in  reality  a  further  development 
in  the  centralization  of  its  school  administration. 


CHAPTER  III 

CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS 
I     Historical  Development  of  the  Administration 

The  most  important  act  in  the  development  of  the  chari- 
ties and  corrections  of  Iowa  was  that  of  March  26,  1898. 
This  act  at  one  stroke  consummated  the  centralization  of 
the  control  of  State  institutions,  under  the  Board  of  Control. 
Only  second  in  importance  was  the  act  of  April  7,  1900, 
which  provided  that  the  Board  of  Control  should  have 
power  to  inspect  and  supervise  local  institutions,  county  or 
private,  in  which  insane  persons  are  cared  for.  This  law 
marked  the  first  step  toward  the  central  direction  of  local 
administration  in  this  department. 

The  local  administration  of  charities  and  corrections  falls 
into  two  clearly  defined  periods,  the  first  extending  from 
the  beginnings  of  government  in  Iowa  to  the  act  of  1900. 
During  this  period  the  locality  was  left  to  its  own  devices, 
unmolested  by  any  State  official.  In  1900  the  first  step 
toward  centralization  was  taken.  From  one  viewpoint, 
however,  it  may  be  said  that  with  the  granting  of  State  aid  to 
special  classes,  and  the  establishment  of  the  State  charitable, 
reformatory  and  penal  institutions,  a  decided  departure  from 
local  administration  was  made,  for  the  State  thus  assumed 
functions  that  otherwise  must  have  developed  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent  in  the  local  divisions. 

The  administration  of  the  State  institutions  as  well  evinces 
two  chief  periods,  that  from  the  foundation  of  the  institu- 
tions to  1898,  a  period  of  large  administrative  independ- 
931  93 


94  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  10  WA  [94 

ence;  that  from  1898  on,  a  period  of  administrative  depend- 
ence upon  the  central  board.  But  in  this  case  there  is  the 
lively  suggestion,  at  least,  of  a  third  period,  a  period  oS 
agitation  and  transition  with  elements  of  limited  centrali- 
zation.    This  period  begins  in  1870  and  extends  to  1898. 

Though  central  and  local  administration  in  these  matters 
are  closely  related,  it  will  conduce  to  clearness  in  the  descrip- 
tion of  their  development  in  Iowa  if  the  two  are  distin- 
guished and  discussed  somewhat  apart. 

[j^.    DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  LOCAL  ADMINISTRATION 

The  local  public  administration  of  charities  in  Iowa  has 
been  confined  to  poor  relief,  and,  largely  as  an  incident 
thereto,  the  care  of  the  insane...  There  have  been  certain  pri- 
vate charities  for  special  classes,  but  they  are  special  classes 
of  the  poor,  usually  orphans,  sometimes  the  aged,  rather  than 
any  who  by  reason  of  an  unusual  physical  infirmity,  other 
than  insanity,  need  distinctive  aid.  The  care  of  the  blind, 
of  the  deaf  and  dumb,  and  of  the  feeble-minded  has  ever 
been  assumed  by  the  State.  Local  correctional  or  reform- 
atory administration  is  lacking,  while  that  of  a  punitive 
character  is  confined  to  the  prisons  and  jails. 

Save  for  a  period  of  hesitation  in  the  early  territorial 
laws  the  obligation  for  the  support  of  the  poor  has  been  with 
the  counties.  The  laws  of  Wisconsin,  under  which  Iowa, 
at  least  nominally,  had  been  administered,  provided  for 
county  relief.^  The  first  session  of  the  territorial  Legis- 
lature failed  to  provide  for  the  creation  of  townships,  and 
only  indirectly  referred  to  a  pauper  class,  mentioning  it  in 
a  law  ^  concerning  the  management  of  aflFairs  of  insane 
persons.     The   laws   of   the   second   session   provided    for 

*  Laws  of  the  Territory  0/  Wisconsin,  1836-38,  p.  128. 
»Z.,  1838-39,  Jan.  19. 


95]  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  95 

county  support/  There  was  also  legislation  for  township 
organization.^  The  township  officers  were  numerous,  and 
among  them  were  two  overseers  of  the  poor.  The  second 
session  following,  an  act  was  passed  which  tended  to  throw 
the  responsibility  for  poor  relief  into  confusion.^  Its  effect 
was  apparently  to  make  the  township  itself  liable  for  all 
paupers  of  doubtful  settlement,  the  directors  of  the  poor  of 
the  county  having  power  to  reject  the  pauper  if  they  be- 
lieved he  had  not  gained  a  settlement  in  the  county.  This 
was  out  of  harmony  with  the  policy  of  county  responsibility. 
And  it  is  probable  that  the  Legislature  exceeded  its  inten- 
tion, for  within  two  years  it  expressly  repudiated  the  law 
and  made  the  provisions  for  county  obligation  unequivocal.* 

One  of  the  significant  features  of  these^arlyjaws  is  found 
in  the  multiplication  of  offices.  There  were  to  be  special 
directors  for  the  county  poor  houses,^  though  in  financial 
matters  they  were  amenable  to  the  county  commissioners. 
However,  when  in  1851  the  county  judge  was  made  the 
county  administrative  authority,  his  direction  of  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  poor  relief  was  practically  absolute.® 
In  i860  when  he  was  succeeded  by  the  Board  of  Super- 
visors the  management  of  poor  relief  was  not  detached,  but 
made  a  part  of  the  central  county  administration.''  Even 
in  the  townships  in  the  earlier  period  there  was  a  double  set 
of  officers,  the  overseers  of  the  poor  and  the  township  trus- 
tees, checking  each  other  in  the  poor  administration,  a  sys- 
tem that  endured  for  something  less  than  five  years,  when 
in  1845  t^^  township  trustees  were  made  by  virtue  of  office 
both  overseers  of  the  poor  and  fence  viewers.® 

From  the  final  lodgement  of  responsibility  for  care  of  the 

»  Z.,  1839-40,  c.  59.  '  Z;.,  1839-40,  c.  39.  "  L.,  1841-42,  c.  67. 

*z.,  1843-44.  c.  12.  »z.,  1841-42,  c.  93.  •  Co^'^  ^851,  \  828. 

T  Z.,  i860,  c.  46.  -  »Z.,  1845,  c.  II. 


96  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [gg 

poor  with  the  counties  to  the  year  1900  there  was  little 
change  of  significance.  The  autocratic  authority  of  the 
county  judge  from  1851  to  i^^o  and  ITie" "tendency  later 
developed  to  accord  township  and  city  officers  greater  free- 
dom in  the  reliefjpf  the  poor  are  the  two  most  noteworthy 
facts. 

The  county  judge  had  power  to  appoint  the  directors  of 
poor  relief,  one  or  three,  as  he  should  see  fit.^  In  case  the 
ordinary  revenues  of  the  county  proved  insufficient  for  the 
expenses  of  the  poor  house  he  might,  as  a  court,  levy  a  tax 
not  exceeding  one  mill  on  the  dollar.'^  The  reports  of  the 
directors  were  to  be  made  to  him.*  And  he  might  let  out  the 
support  of  the  poor  with  the  use  of  the  poor  house  and  farm 
for  a  period  not  exceeding  three  years.*  One  rather  re- 
markable provision  of  the  law  was  that  creating  a  system 
of  secret  espionage  in  cases  of  special  contract  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  poor.  It  was  provided  that  the  county  judge 
should  appoint  some  person  to  examine  from  time  to  time 
and  report  upon  the  manner  in  which  the  poor  were  kept  and 
treated,  without  notice  to  the  person  contracting  for  their 
support.  ** 

The  early  acts  chartering  cities  sometimes  provided  for 
city  infirmaries.  In  1868  city  councils  of  cities  of  the  first 
class  and  township  trustees  were  required  to  provide  for 
the  relief  "  of  such  poor  persons  *  *  as  should  not  in 
their  judgment  be  sent  to  the  county  poor  house,"  for  which 
a  sum  not  exceeding  two  dollars  per  week,  exclusive  of 
medical  attendance,  might  be  allowed.  But  the  Board  of 
Supervisors  had  power  to  limit  the  amount  of  the  relief 
furnished  and  refuse  to  continue  such  relief.®  Thus  a  lim- 
ited authority  was  given  townships  and  cities  in  the  matter 

1  Code,  1851,  \  828.  >  Ibid.  »  Ibid.  *  Ibid,,  W  847.  8as. 

» Ibid.,  \  8a6.  •  L'*  1868,  c.  95. 


97]  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  97 

of  out-door  relief,  and  from  this  time  on  there  was  a  series 
of  laws  providing  for  slight  modifications  of  the  system.* 

The  administration  of  the  jails  throughout  the  history  of 
Iowa  has  been  entirely  in  the  hands  of  local  officials.  And 
there  has  been  practically  no  agitation  at  any  time  for  cen- 
tral control  or  inspection.  The  laws,  if  observed,  however, 
have  usually  been  rigid  enough  to  secure  a  good  adminis- 
tration. The  earliest  territorial  law  on  the  subject  made 
it  unlawful  for  sheriff  or  jailer  to  confine  male  and  female 
prisoners,  except  husband  and  wife,  together,^  and  in  1843 
any  person  having  the  care  of  any  jail  allowing  it  to  become 
foul  or  unclean,  so  as  to  endanger  the  health  of  any  prisoner, 
was  made  liable  to  indictment  and  fine.^  Oppression  of 
prisoners  was  most  severely  punished.*  These  provisions 
have  since  been  extended. 

The  Code  of  1851  took  a  step  forward.  It  provided  for 
county  inspection  of  jails,  the  inspection  to  be  made  by  the 
county  judge  and  the  prosecuting  attorney.^  The  provi- 
sion for  a  thorough  examination  of  the  jails  was  very  full, 
and  it  might  have  seemed  that  here  was  the  first  step  toward 
central  supervision.  But  not  so,  for  when  the  county  judge- 
ship was  abolished  in  1868  ®  his  functions  were  transferred 
to  the  circuit  judge,  and  the  Code  of  1873  expressly  pro- 
vided that  the  circuit  judge  and  district  attorney  should  be 
inspectors  of  jails.^  The  circuit  judge  disappeared,  but  his 
disappearance  was  not  taken  advantage  of  to  create  a  State 
prison  board,  and  the  system  of  1851  is  to-day  continued 
substantially  in  the  provision  of  the  law  which  makes  the 
clerk  of  the  district  court  and  the  county  attorney  inspectors 
of  the  jails.®     These  laws  in  many  cases  are  practically  dead 

>  Z.,  1826,  c.  26 ;  1878,  c.  37  ;  1880,  c.  133  ;  1888,  c.  loi ;  Code,  1897,  \  733* 
•Z.,  1838-39.  c,  139.      *  Compiled  Statutes y  1843,  c.  49-      ^  Idem. 

•  Code,  1851,  §  31 10.       •  Z.,  1868,  c.  86.       '  Code,  1873.  {  \2^ 

•  Code,  1897,  \  5645- 


98  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  10  WA  [gg 

letters,  and  seemingly  in  several  periods  the  Legislature  has 
been  careless  of  providing  any  system  of  prison  inspection 
whatever. 

Thus  to  the  year  1900  in  both  local  charity  administra- 
tion, v^ith  its  incident  of  the  care  of  the  insane,  and  in  the 
management  of  jails,  the  control  was  left  wholly  to  county 
or  lesser  hands.  But  in  this  year  there  appeared  a  most 
important  deviation.  The  General  Assembly  enacted  a  law 
providing  that  all  private  and  county  institutions  caring  for 
insane  persons  should  be  under  the  supervision  of  the  Board 
of  Control  of  State  Institutions.^  This  law  imposes  upon 
the  board  the  duty  of  inspecting  such  institutions  through 
its  own  members  or  persons  appointed  by  it.  This  advance 
has  been  made  not  in  response  to  any  avowed  intention  to 
centralize  charities  generally  in  the  care  of  the  State,  but 
simply  because  it  was  essential  to  give  the  board  this  power 
if  its  authority  in  regard  to  insane  already  in  the  State  asy- 
lums was  to  be  adequate.  Nevertheless  it  has  now  an  im- 
portant influence  on  the  question  of  centralization,  an  influ- 
ence that  will  grow  with  the  passage  of  time. 

The  private  institutions  and  their  administration  can  give 
us  but  slight  pause,  as  they  have  played  but  a  minor  role  in 
the  charities  of  the  State.  On  several  occasions  the  State 
has  given  its  aid,  but  usually  with  some  reservation  whereby 
it  might  supervise  the  expenditure  of  the  sums  granted. 
Its  interference  has  hardly  gone  any  farther  than  this,  how- 
ever. The  most  conspicuous  instances  of  State  aid  are 
those  of  a  loan  of  $5,000  to  the  Orphans'  Home  at  Andrew, 
made  in  1872,^  to  enable  it  to  meet  its  indebtedness,  and  the 
frequent  donations  to  the  Benedict  Home  at  Des  Moines. 
The  time  for  payment  of  the  loan  to  the  Orphans'  Asylum 
was  extended  on  several  occasions,^  and  finally  the  State 

»z.,  1900,  c.  144.  '^•'  »872,  c.  159. 

•Z.,  1882,  c.  57;  1892,0.76. 


99]  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  99 

cancelled  the  debt  because  of  the  good  done  by  the  institu- 
tion/ The  donations  to  the  Benedict  Home  for  Fallen 
Women  have  been  expended  under  the  direction  of  the 
Executive  Council,  and  have  been  so  large  that  a  strong 
argument  has  been  made  for  direct  participation  of  the  State 
in  its  administration. 

2.       DEVELOPMENT   OF  THE   ADMINISTRATION   OF  STATE 
INSTITUTIONS 

The. first  State  institution  of  a  charitable,  correctional  or 
penal  character  to  develop  in  Iowa  was  the  penitentiary  at 
Ft.  Madison.  Its  early  appearance  was  due  to  the  grants 
made  in  the  territorial  days  by  the  National  Government, 
and  its  existence  was  presupposed  in  the  criminal  law  of 
the  time  which,  as  now,  distinguished  felonies  from  other 
crimes  by  the  severity  of  the  punishment,  all  crimes  punish- 
able with  death,  imprisonment  at  hard  labor  or  in  the  peni- 
tentiary falling  in  the  category  of  felonies.^  This  insti- 
tution was  of  necessity  .a  creation  of  the  State.  It  was  in 
the_grant  of. State  aid  to  special  classes  of  defectives  that 
the  first_r^i  step  was  taken  in  the  assumption  by  the  State 
of  functions  of  relief  that  might  have  developed  locally. 
In  1849  the  General  Assembly  empowered  the  Auditor,  upon 
certification  of  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion, to  draw  his  warrant  in  favor  of  deaf,  dumb  and  blind 
applicants  for  State  aid  in  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars  for  each 
such  applicant.^  No  one  beneficiary  was  allowed  more  than 
$100  from  the  State  treasury,  and  the  total  amount  that 
might  be  drawn  annually  for  such  purpose  was  limited  to 
$500  for  the  education  of  the  deaf  and  dumb  and  $250  for 
the  education  of  the  blind. 

This  system  of  direct  money  grants  was  to  endure  but  a 

»Z.,  1892,0.  113.        '  Z.,  1838-39,  Act  Jan.  4.  ^  L.,  1849,  c.  121. 


1 00  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [  j qq 

brief  season,  however,  for  soon  the  institutions  for  defect- 
ives, the  insane  asylums,  the  correctional  institutions  and 
the  institutions  strictly  charitable  in  nature  began  to  make 
their  appearance.  In  1853  provision  was  made  fojc^n-Asy- 
lum  for  the  Blind  to  be  established  at  Iowa  City,  which  was 
then  capital  of  the  State,^  an  institution  that  was  later  re- 
moved to  Vinton.  An  asylum  for  the  deaf  and  dumb  was 
established  soon  afterwards  at  Iowa  City,^  later  being  re- 
moved to  Council  Bluffs.  In  the  Governor's  message  for 
1852  special  attention  had  been  called  to  the  need  for  asy- 
lums for  the  insane.  It  was  stated  that  there  were  more 
than  one  hundred  pauper  insane  in  the  State,  one-half  of 
whom  were  confined  in  the  common  jails,  and  "  thus  placed 
beyond  even  a  reasonable  expectation  of  recovery,"  and  "  the 
other  moiety  *  *  roaming  at  large."  *  In  response  to 
this  evident  need  the  first  insane  asylum  was  established  at 
Mt.  Pleasant  in  1855.*  Gradually  the  insane  population 
grew,  until  now  the  State  has  four  asylums,  the  second 
asylum  being  established  at  Independence  in  1868,''  the  third 
at  Clarinda  in  1888,®  and  the  fourth,  located  at  Cherokee, 
was  first  provided  for  in  1892.'' 

The  same  course  of  action  was  followed  in  the  provision 
for  correctional  administration.  In  1868  a  reform  school 
for  both  boys  and  girls  was  established.®  The  tendency  to 
separate  the  sexes  was  however  soon  manifest,  and  the 
several  progressions  to  that  end  ®  were  finally  concluded  in 
1880,  when  a  separate  girls'  school  was  established. ^° 

In  1872  an  additional  penitentiary  was  provided,  to  be 
established  "  at  or  near  the  stone  quarries  near  Anamosa, 

» Z.,  1852-53.  c.  26.  » z.,  1854-55.  c-  87. 

•  Gov.  Mess.,  1852,  p.  6.  *Z.,  i854-55»  c-  «34. 

»X.,  1868.C.97.  *L.,  1888,0.75. 

'1893,  c.  80.  «Z.,  1868,  c.  59. 

»  See  L.,  1872,  c.  161 ;  1878,  c.  105.  "  Z.,  1880,  c.  171- 


10 1  ]  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  iqi 

Iowa."  ^  In  1876  an  institution  for  the  feeble-minded  was 
founded  by  the  State  ^  and  located  at  Glenwood.  Through- 
out this  period,  that  is  from  1866  on,  there  were  also  pro- 
visions for  industrial  homes  for  the  blind,^  homes  for  the 
orphans  of  soldiers  and  others,*  and  the  soldiers*  home." 

Several  of  these  institutions  received  some  support  from 
other  than  State  sources,  but  this  did  not  deter  the  State  from 
making*  full  provision  for  their  administration  and  retaining 
the  administration  within  its  own  hands. 

It  will  be  observed  that  most  of  these  institutions  were 
established  previous  to  1870.  Up  to  that  time  the  propriety 
of  their  administration  by  officers  or  boards  individual  to 
each  institution  was  little  questioned.  There  were  scathing 
criticisms,  but  those  that  went  to  the  foundation  of  the  sys- 
tem, urging  a  departure  from  the  independent  administra- 
tion, were  few  and  little  regarded.  Such  changes  as  were 
made  from  1838  to  1870  were  chiefly  in  the  particular 
administration  of  the  individual  institution.  Each  was 
viewed  as  a  distinct  entity.  Each  lived  its  own  life,  made 
its  own  report  and  settled  its  own  accounts  with  the  State, 
and  the  manner  of  administration  and  policy  pursued  by  the 
several  institutions  were  often  widely  variant  in  nature. 
There  was  no  co-operation,  and  there  was  not  expected  to 
be  any.  And  the  lack  of  co-ordination  was  not  challenged 
as  a  fault. 

The  prevalent  type  of  administration  was  that  by  a  Board 
of  Trustees  having  from  three  to  a  dozen,  members,  one  of 
whom  was  generally  a  resident  of  the  place  where  the  insti- 
tution was  located.  These  trustees  were  as  a  rule  chosen 
by  the  Legislature,  though  there  were  a  number  of  cases 
in  which  they  were  appointed  by  the  Governor  independently 
or  with  consent  of  the  Council,  Census  Board  or  Executive 

»  Z.,  1872,  c.  loi.  « Z.,  1876,  c.  152.         » Z.,  1870.  c.  79;  1890,  c.  53. 

*  Z.,  1866,  c.  92 ;  1868,  c.  66  ;  1876,  c.  94.         *I^.,  1886,  c.  58  ;  c.  129. 


102  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [102 

Council.  The  responsibility  for  the  management  of  an  in- 
stitution was  vested  in  its  own  board,  which  usually  had  an 
extensive  rule-making  power,  authority  to  appoint  its  offi- 
cers and  the  heads  of  the  institution  (who  generally  appointed 
their  own  subordinates),  discharge  them,  and  fix  their  sala- 
ries, within  the  limits  prescribed  by  law.  The  chief  func- 
tions of  the  trustees  were  financial  in  nature.  The  direct 
administration  was  in  most  matters  left  to  the  executive 
head  of  the  institution,  be  he  superintendent,  warden  or 
principal.  The  trustees  ordinarily  appointed  the  financial 
officer  of  the  institution.  And  on  his  requisitions,  when 
approved  by  the  superintendent,  and  sometimes  one  or  more 
of  the  trustees,  the  funds  appropriated  by  the  Legislature 
were  driawn,  such  requisitions  in  the  usual  case  passing  to 
the  Auditor  of  State  to  be  audited  and  allowed  by  him  before 
a  warrant  was  drawn  on  the  Treasurer  of  State.  A  free 
hand  was  often  left  the  boards  of  trustees  in  their  systems 
of  accounts.  They  were  little  restricted  in  their  manner  of 
purchasing  supplies.^  And  save  in  the  requirement  for 
reports — which  were  usually  biennial,  in  a  few  cases  annual 
— for  regular  meetings  and  for  periodical  examination  of 
the  accounts  and  vouchers  of  institution  treasurers,  the 
boards  were  not  held  to  many  closely  defined  obligations. 

But  this  is  merely  the  composite  of  the  systems,  the  com- 
mon type  of  administration,  as  nearly  as  it  may  be  described. 
There  were  many  important  exceptions.  Particularly  was 
this  true  of  the  penitentiary  at  Ft.  Madison,  over  which 
there  was  almost  unending  controversy.  Charges  of  cor- 
ruption  led  to  committees   of   investigation;   criticism  of 

'In  1862, however,  a  special  attempt  was  made  to  secure  uniformity  in  the 
manner  of  contracting  for  and  purchasing  supplies.  Z.,  1862,  c.  46.  Similar 
efforts  appear  in  subsequent  laws,  but  they  were  without  much  success.  There 
were  frequent  prohibitions  against  trustees  having  interest  in  institution  contracts. 
For  example,  lee  Z.,  1878,  c.  144. 


103]  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  103 

boards  and  officers  to  almost  ceaseless  experiments  in  admin- 
istration/ The  penitentiary  started  with  a  board  of  three 
directors  chosen  by  the  Legislature.  They  in  turn  chose  a 
superintendent,  under  whom  the  construction  of  the  peni- 
tentiary was  carried  on,^  and  also  a  warden,  who  held  office 
at  their  pleasure.  The  system  divided  responsibility  and 
was  confusing.^  Misappropriation  of  funds  and  misman:^ 
agement  were  reputed  and  proved.  In  1847  the  peniten- 
tiary was  placed  under  the  control  of  an  Agent,  answerable 
to  the  General  Assembly  alone,  with  no  provision  for  audit- 
ing his  accounts.*  In  1851  a  Board  of  Inspectors  and  war- 
den appointed  by  the  Governor,  with  the  consent  of  the  Sen- 
ate, to  hold  office  during  the  pleasure  of  the  executive,  but 
not  for  more  than  four  years  under  one  appointment,  were 
given  charge  of  the  institution.^  Again  in  i860  there  was 
a  revolutionary  change.  This  time  the  warden  was  made 
the  sole  manager  of  the  institution,  under  the  direction  of 
the  Governor.^  But  this  recital  does  in  no  adequate  man- 
ner reflect  the  full  measure  of  variety  and  discontinuity  of 
the  penitentiary's  early  administration.  A  warden  chosen 
at  one  time  by  a  superior  board,^  at  another  by  the  Governor 
and  Council  or  Senate,^  at  another  by  the  General  Assembly,* 
having  at  one  moment  only  a  slight  ministerial  authority,*** 
at  the  next  thrown  into  doubt  as  to  whether  he  had  any  or 

» In  the  issue  of  the  Iowa  Weekly  Republican  of  February  8,  i860,  the  editor 
said  .  «« These  institutions  are  the  bugbear,  as  they  are  the  fertile  theme  of  endless 
discussion  .  .  .  The  Penitentiary  is  doubtless  in  need  of  appropriations.  If  the 
representations  are  true  concerning  it,  the  convicts  are  simply  tenants  at  wilL 
They  are  not  in  so  much  danger  of  breaking  out  9a  falling  oysX  of  their  cells." 

*  L.y  1838-39,  Act  Jan.  25.  •  Z.,  1840-41,  c.  71,  well  illustrates  this. 

*  Z.,  1846-47,  c.  loi.     But  see  Z.,  1848-49,  c.  70. 
^Code,  185 1,  ^§3120,  3121. 

«  Z.,  i860,  c.  97.  '  Z.,  1856-57,  c.  76.  •»  Z.,  1840-41,  c.  71. 

»Z.,  1852-53,  C.  17.  "Z.,  1838-39,  Act  Jan.  25. 


I04  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  T  j 04 

all  power/  then  raised  to  assured  discretionary  authority — 
this  was  the  course  of  one  office.^  The  uncertainty  per- 
vaded every  other.  There  was  administration  by  the  Leg- 
islature,' administration  by  the  Governor/  administration 
by  special  boards,  administration  by  the  Census  Board  or 
Executive  Council, **  and  administration  by  private  lessees.* 

On  the  other  hand  the  divergences  from  the  common  type 
in  the  administration  of  the  charitable  and  correctional  in- 
stitutions were  not  many.  Perhaps  the  most  conspicuous 
was  that  in  the  government  of  the  first  insane  asylum.  It 
was  provided  that  a  majority  of  the  trustees  should  reside 
in  the  county  where  the  institution  was  established.''  This 
was  changed  later.  ^  The  Governor,  Superintendent  of  Pub- 
lic Instruction  and  Secretary  were  made  members  of  the 
first  boards  of  the  Blind  Asylum  ®  and  Institution  for  the 
Deaf  and  Dumb,^**  but  within  a  few  years  were  excluded. 
Otherwise  the  differences  were  of  minor  significance. 

Such  was  in  general  the  particular  administration  of  these 
institutions  to  the  year  1870,  and,  in  large  measure,  to  1898. 
There  were  indeed  gradually  developed  some  external 
checks  which,  if  fully  employed,  might  have  secured  much 

»  Compiled  Statutes,  1843,  c*  9*  '  ^^^o,  c.  97. 

»Z.,  1845;  Joint  Res.,  13;  Z.,  1845-46,0.  20. 

*Z.,  1851,  c.f28;  1851,  Joint  Res.,  20-,  1872,  Joint  Res.,  23. 

»Z.,  1868,  c.  104;  1874,  c.  35  ;  1878,  c.  no;  1878,  c.  186;  1880,  c.  149. 

•Z.,  1845-46,  c.  20.  One  ill-considered  law  for  leasing  the  penitentiary  pro. 
vided  for  no  report  whatever.  The  governor  commenting  upon  it  said  :  «« In  the 
absence  of  information  from  the  proper  source,  I  am  only  able  to  state  that  during 
the  past  year  the  number  of  convicts  has  varied  from  six  to  two,  the  latter  being  the 
number  at  present  in  confinement.  .  .  At  present  there  is  no  discipline  whatever, 
the  convicts  are  more  frequently  employed  without  than  within  the  walls  of  the 
Penitentiary,  and  can  easily  make  their  escape  when  disposed  to  do  so."  //.  J.; 
1846-47,  p.  20. 

TZ.,  1858,  c.  141.  *L.,  i860,  c.  161. 

»Z.,  1852-53,  c.  26.  "Z.,  1854-55,  c.  87. 


105]  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  105 

harmony  of  policy  and  some  central  control.  But  they 
were  made  little  use  of.  Passing  over  the  authority  of  the 
Secretary  of  State,  the  Governor,  or  the  Executive  Council 
to  approve  the  official  bonds  of  the  officers  of  the  various 
institutions,  and  the  detailed  duties  often  required,  especially 
of  the  Governor,  in  the  auditing  of  accounts  and  checking^gf 
excessive  expenditures — powers  that,  vigorously  exercised, 
would  tend  to  shape  the  administration — we  may  note  two 
that  stand  out  with  unusual  prominence.  The  first  was. 
the  power  of  the  Governor  to  supervise  the  penitentiaries. 
Monthly  reports  were  to  be  made  to  him  by  the  wardens, 
and  the  statute  in  very  careful  terms,  so  hedged  about  as  to 
insure  if  possible  their  punctilious  observance,  required  the 
Governor  in  person,  or  through  his  authorized  agent,  to 
make  quarterly  investigations  of  the  penitentiaries,  and  he 
was  given  some  minor  powers  of  direct  administration. 
The  Governor  perhaps  made  as  full  use  of  this  authority 
as  was  compatible  with  his  other  duties,  certainly  a  much 
greater  use  than  he  did  of  the  power  early  given  him  to 
appoint  commissioners  of  accounts  to  examine  annually  the 
executive  offices  of  the  State  and,  by  intendment,  the  insti- 
tutions.^ But  he  did  not  make  such  a  use  that  legislative 
interference  was  not  often  called  for,  investigating  com- 
mittees necessary,  and  changes  in  administration  deemed 
essential.  The  second  noteworthy  power,  or _  group  of 
powers,  was  that  bestowed  upon  the  Executive.  Council,  or 
Census  Board,  as  it  was  earlier  called.  Given  the  authority 
in  1866  to  approve  the  requisitions  of  the  Orphans'  Home, 
and  in  1868  those  of  the  warden  of  the  penitentiary  at  Ft. 
Madison,  its  power  was  gradually  extended  in  several  direc- 
tions. Contracts  for  convict  labor  were  usually  subject 
to  its  approval.  The  few  special  appropriations  for  aid  to 
private  charities  were  expended  as  it  might  direct.     In  the 

»  Z.,  1858,  c.  160,  and  see  Report  of  Rankin  Investigating  Committee,  p.  65. 


"M^^ 


1 06  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [ 1 06 

provisions  for  the  management  of  the  new  State  peniten- 
tiary at  Anamosa  the  warden  was  within  a  few  years  after 
its  establishment  placed  under  the  direction  of  the  Execu- 
tive Council  in  the  construction  of  buildings,  purchase  of 
materials  and  employment  of  workmen/  and  the  Council 
was  given  a  power,  indefinite  in  terms,  but  a  power  for  that 
very  reason  capable  of  a  liberal  application,  to  separate  pris- 
oners according  to  age  or  character.  But  these  capacities 
were  little  improved,  except  as  they  bore  upon  the  financial 
conditions.  For  the  Executive  Council  was,  and  has  ever 
been,  loth  to  consider  itself  other  than  a  financial  or  business 
board,  and  has  almost  never  gone  beyond  its  auditing,  ac- 
counting, examining,  assessing  and  equalizing  functions. 

The  last  half  of  the  decade  from  i860  to  1870  saw  an 
increased  activity  in  the  affairs  of  the  institutions.  An 
unusual  number  of  new  institutions  was  added,  and  the 
public  attention  was  arrested  by  the  spirit  of  extension. 
The  expense  account  commenced  to  grow  until  soon  it  con- 
sumed more  than  half  of  the  appropriations.  And  now 
began  to  appear  that  series  of  bills  which  for  thirty  years 
was  to  seek  a  reform  in  the  institutional  administration, 
evoking  comment  or  recommendation  in  almost  every  gub- 
ernatorial message,  all  but  achieving  the  reform  on  more 
than  one  occasion,  and  finally  realizing  its  object  only  after 
a  searching  investigation. 

It  appears  that  the  first  bill  for  State  supervision  or  con- 
trol was  introduced  in  1870.^  The  plan  proposed  sought 
to  do  away  with  legislative  junketing  and  provide  for  State 
inspection.  The  bill  was  introduced  too  late  in  the  session 
to  be  carried. 

In  1872  the  first  step  was  taken  toward  central  adminis- 

»Z.,  1876,  c.  137. 

*H.  -F.,  302,  1870;  F.  I.  Herriott,  Institutional  Expenditures  in  the  State 
Budgets  of  lowa^  p.  73. 


107]  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  107 

tration.  A  "  Visiting  Committee  "  for  the  insane  asylums 
was  established.^  Its  purpose  was  to  protect  the  insane. 
The  committee  was  composed  of  three  members  appointed 
and  removed  by  the  Governor..  They  were  empowered  to 
visit  the  asylums  at  discretion,  though  at  least  one  member 
must  visit  the  asylums  every  month.  They  were  to  ascer- 
tain "  whether  any  inmates  are  improperly  detained  at  the 
hospital  or  unjustly  placed  there,  and  whether  the  inmates 
are  humanely  and  kindly  treated,  with  full  power  to  correct 
any  abuses  found  to  exist."  They  might  discharge  any 
attendant  or  employee  found  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  merit- 
ing such  discharge.  The  measure  was  resented  by  many 
having  to  do  with  the  asylums,^  but  it  quickly  justified  its 
existence,  and  though  the  committee  brought  to  light  little 
serious  abuse,  it  was  well  understood  that  its  authority  was 
a  latent  safeguard  to  the  interests  of  the  insane,  and  it  re- 
mained in  high  public  favor  up  to  the  very  hour  of  its  super- 
session by  the  Board  of  Control.  For  a  short  time  the 
extension  of  the  committee's  authority  to  include  that  of 
a  Board  of  Charities  was  mooted,  the  committee  with  some 
diffidence  advancing  the  suggestion  ^  and  the  Governor 
heartily  seconding  it.*  The  Governor  at  this  time  suggested 
an  advance  that  has  been  almost  lost  sight  of  since.  He 
recommended  that  the  committee  should  include  in  the  scope 
of  its  duties  the  examination  and  suggestion  of  improve- 
ments in  the  jails  and  poor  houses  of  the  county.  The 
advocates  of  centralization  were  now  in  full  cry.  In  1876 
two  bills  providing  for  an  Advisory  Board  were  consoli- 
dated, and  passed  the  Senate  by  a  strong  majority  ^  but 
failed  in  the  House. 

» Z.,  1872,  c.  183.  *  Gov.  Miss.,  1874,  p.  30. 

»  Reportofthe  Visiting  Committee,  1875,  pp.  7,  8. 

*  Gov.  Mess.,  1876,  p.  24.  »  S.  J.,  1876,  p.  76. 


> 


1 08  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [ 1 08 

Hardly  a  session  of  the  Legislature  from  now  on  to  1898, 
when  the  act  creating  the  Board  of  Control  was  passed,  ended 
without  its  bill  for  a  central  board.  In  1878  a  bill  to  create 
a  board  of  three  managers  to  have  charge  of  all  the  institu- 
tions except  the  university,  the  reform  schools  and  the  peni- 
tentiaries came  within  the  narrowest  margin  of  success.  It 
had  passed  the  House,  a  majority  of  the  members  of  the 
Senate  were  in  favor  of  it,  and  only  by  the  sharpest  parlia- 
mentary practice  was  it  defeated.  But  most  of  the  plans 
received  much  less  favor.  They  varied  greatly  in  nature, 
some  providing  for  boards  with  the  most  meagre  advisory 
capacity,  some  for  boards  with  authority  drawn  on  even 
bolder  lines  than  is  that  of  the  Board  of  Control.  Some 
contained  novel  features,  such  as  a  provision  making  the 
board  in  addition  a  board  of  pardons,  or  a  commission  in 
lunacy,  or  a  provision,  for  the  extension  of  supervision  over 
all  the  State  offices  as  well  as  the  institutions.  One  called 
for  central  supervision  of  city  and  county  jails.^  The  views 
of  the  Governors  differed  quite  as  radically  as  did  those  of 
legislators.^  But  the  cases  were  isolated  where  no  form  of 
central  supervision  was  approved.^  Almost  all  interested 
believed  that  at  least  an  advisory  board  for  a  part  of  the 
institutions  was  called  for.  Many  would  have  gone  much 
farther. 

At  last  in  1897  the  General  Assembly,  spurred  to  defini- 
tive action  by  the  persistent  rumor  of  frauds,  money  mis- 
applied, and  favoritism  shown  in  the  purchase  of  supplies 

»  For  these  various  bills  see,  for  1882,  H.  Fs.,  181,  193;  1884,  H.  Fs., 
128,  307;  1886,  H.  Fs.,  22,  35,  128,  177;  1888,  .S".  y^.,  68;  1890,  S.  Fs.,  77, 
397;   1892,  S.  F.,  18  ;  1894,  S.  F,  283. 

»  Gov.  Miss.,  1878,  p.  20;  1880,  p.  35;  1882,  p.  42;  1884,  pp.  37.43;  1886, 
pp.  7,  8 ;  1892,  pp.  5,  8 ;  1894,  pp.  5,  7  ;  1896,  pp.  4,  5 ;  1898,  pp.  24,  25.  And 
see  in  connection,  Governor's  Inaugurals,  1878,  p.  14;   1882,  pp.  11,  12. 

»  Gov.  Mess.,  1896,  4,  5,  opposed  central  supervision,  except  financial  exami- 
nation by  the  Executive  Council. 


109]  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  109 

or  in  the  deposits  in  banks,  appointed  a  joint  committee  of 
the  House  and  Senate  to  examine  thoroughly  the  several 
institutions  and  report  on  a  measure  for  change  in  admin- 
istration. Their  report  was  taken  up  by  the  session  of  1898, 
and  the  result  of  its  action  thereon  was  the  present  Board 
of  Control.  Just  previous  to  this  report  and  the  resultant 
law  the  Code  of  1897  had  gone  into  effect.  It  contained  a 
provision  looking  toward  more  systematic  administration 
that  was  somewhat  lost  to  view  in  the  interest  attending 
the  new  law.  Under  the  code  the  Executive  Council  were 
to  devise  a  system  of  book-keeping  or  accounts  for  all  the 
State  institutions,  and  to  make  annual  expert  examinations 
of  their  accounts  and  financial  transactions.^  These  powers, 
as  well  as  those  of  the  Governor  with  respect  to  the  peni- 
tentiaries, were  transferred  to  the  Board  of  Control. 

The  report  of  the  Healy  Investigating  Committee  of  1897 
is  the  one  document  of  prime  importance  in  the  history  of 
the  State  charities  and  corrections.  It  constitutes  a  cogent 
and  severe  arraignment  of  institutional  administrative  inde- 
pendence. Faults  and  blemishes  it  found  on  almost  every 
hand.  Lack  of  uniform  method  in  the  purchasing  of  sup- 
plies for  subsistence  or  construction  purposes ;  the  consumi>- 
tion  of  different  grades  of  supplies  in  hospitals  treating  the 
same  kind  of  patients;  the  intermingling  of  different  funds 
in  violation  of  law ;  the  non-observance  of  statutory  limita- 
tions in  expenditures  for  specific  purposes;  total  failure  in 
some  places  to  audit  bills,  or  auditing  after  the  bills  were 
paid ;  the  payment  of  different  salaries  for  the  same  services 
by  institutions  of  the  same  character;'*  these  were  among 
its  general  criticisms.  In  some  cases  the  report  showed 
that  though  the  law  required  orders  on  the  treasurer  of  an 
institution  to  be  signed  by  the  president  and  secretary,  the 
president  had  been  accustomed  to  sign  such  orders  in  blank 

»  Code,  1897,  \\  158-163.  '  •  Healy  Report,  p.  67. 


1 1 0  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  T  j  j q 

and  leave  them  with  the  secretary  to  be  filled  out  and  signed 
by  him  when  the  occasion  required/  It  advised  the  Legis- 
lature that  notwithstanding  express  prohibitions  appropri- 
ations were  very  generally  disbursed  from  the  State  treasury 
weeks  and  months  before  actually  needed  and  deposited  in 
local  banks,  that  an  institution  was  very  generally  consid- 
ered the  lawful  prey  of  the  locality  in  which  it  was  situated, 
and  the  bulk  of  the  supplies  bought  from  local  merchants.^ 
It  noted  a  feeling  of  hostility  between  institutions  and  a 
feeling  of  opposition  toward  them  on  the  part  of  public 
and  Legislature,  induced  by  the  sentiment  that  institutions 
were  the  vehicles  of  special  interests,  and  not  unselfishly 
representative  of  a  beneficent  purpose  of  government/^  The 
facts  were  incontrovertible.  The  demand  for  reform  was 
imperative.  This  the  investigating  committee  appreciated 
fully,  and  it  said,  "  If  we  thought  the  Legislature  compe- 
tent to  remedy  the  defects,  abuses  and  evils  presented  in 
our  report,  by  enactments  applicable  to  each  institution, 
there  would  be  much  merit  in  suggesting  specific  changes. 
Entertaining  the  opinion,  however,  that  the  major  part  of 
our  criticisms  refer  to  abuses  inhering  in  the  trustee  sys- 
tem, a  thorough  measure  of  reform  is  the  only  remedy. 
We  attempted  with  some  care  to  prepare  a  list  of  statutory 
amendments,  but  on  reflection  it  was  ascertained  that  the 
greater  number  of  such  amendments  can  properly  form  a 
part  of  a  measure  creating  a  central  or  supervisory  board. 
Many  other  of  such  amendments  will  not  be  required  if 
such  board  is  established.  The  disease  is  organic,  and  too 
deep-seated  for  the  use  of  palliatives."  * 

But  the  step  to  the  new  order  was  not  unattended  by  the 
controversy  that  has  marked  the  advance  with  weariful 
slowness  in  other  States.     In  fact  the  dispute  of  thirty  years 

1  Healy  Report^  pp.  6l,  62.  «  Ibid.,  pp.  14,  29. 

•  Ibid.,  p.  66.  *  Ibid.,  p.  65. 


1 1 1 J  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  j  j  | 

was  revamped.  All  that  had  been  said  before,  pro  or  con, 
was  repeated  here  again.  By  conferring  upon  the  board 
executive  power,  it  was  said  that  its  function  as  an  advisory- 
board  would  be  impaired  ""  in  the  same  sense  and  to  the 
same  extent  as  an  attorney  would  be  injured  in  his  profes- 
sional career  by  requiring  him  to  perform  the  work  of  a 
book-keeper."  How  could  a  board  inspect  and  supervise 
itself?  For  it  was  declared  with  much  apparent  force  that 
the  managers  of  an  institution  are,  in  the  eye  of  the  law, 
the  institution,  and  that  many  of  the  advantages  of  a  State 
board,  as  such  a  board  is  commonly  understood,  are  there- 
fore lost  if  there  is  no  intermediate  authority  between  the 
managers  and  the  legislators,  the  Governor  and  the  people. 
The  point  of  remuneration  was  dwelt  upon  at  length. 
Under  the  Code  of  1897  the  members  of  most  boards  of 
trustees  had  been  allowed  four  dollars  per  diem  and  traveling 
expenses,  but  they  could  not  receive  compensation  for  more 
than  thirty  days  in  each  year.  Those  opposing  the  cen- 
tral salaried  board  contended  that  once  a  price  was  attached 
the  office  immediately  became  a  prize,  of  political  seductive- 
ness. Three  thousand  dollars  is  a  good  wage  for  a  decayed 
politician.  And  price  and  payment  would  keep  out  that 
class  of  men,  an  able  class,  willing  to  give  their  services  to 
the  charitable  work  of  the  State,  but  unwilling  to  have  them 
estimated  at  a  pittance.  To  this  and  like  opposition,  and 
to  the  claim  that  the  power  of  the  board  should  be  a  moral 
power  solely,  perhaps  the  strongest  argument  of  those  who 
favored  the  Board  of  Control  was  that  of  economy  and 
business  expediency  and  efficiency,  in  short  of  scientific 
adjustment. 

It  is  acknowledged  by  those  who  oppose  the  doctrine  or 
practice  of  gratuitous  service  that  perhaps  it  occupies  a 
stronghold  when  used  in  benevolent  or  semi-benevolent 
institutions.     Hence  it  was  with  some  difficulty  that  the 


1 1 2  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [112 

salaried  office  could  be  made  to  win  support,  but  that  was 
accomplished,  and  again  by  means  of  the  argument  of 
its  superiority  from  a  business  point  of  view.  The  argu- 
ments that  the  motives  that  lead  men  to  give  their  ser- 
vice without  pay  are  not  constant,  therefore  not  reliable, 
that  the  public  servant,  serving  without  compensation,  can- 
not be  held  to  strict  accountability,  that  gratuitous  service 
is  never  a  trained  service,^  were  brought  into  play  and 
victory  was  won  for  the  Board  of  Control.  The  thought 
of  the  legislators  of  Iowa  when  they  brought  this  strong 
and  virile  innovation  into  the  administration  of  the  insti- 
tutions of  the  State  was  the  thought  of  Walter  Bagehot 
when  he  wrote:  "A  very  high  pay  of  prestige  is  almost 
always  very  dangerous.  It  causes  the  post  to  be  desired 
Uy  vain  men,  by  lazy  men,  by  men  of  rank,  and  when  that 
post  is  one  of  real  and  technical  business,  and  when  there- 
fore it  requires  much  previous  training,  much  continuous 
labor,  and  much  patient  and  quick  judgment,  all  such  men 
are  dangerous."  ^  The  members  of  the  Board  of  Control 
qualified  April  6,  1898,  not  assuming  control  of  the  insti- 
tutions, however,  until  July  i,  1898. 

II     The   Present  Administration — The  Board  of 

Control 

The  Board  of  Control  of  State  Institutions  is  composed 
of  three  electors  of  the  State,  appointed  by  the  Governor, 
with  the  consent  of  two-thirds  of  the  Senate.  Not  more 
than  two  of  the  members  may  be  of  the  same  political 
party,  and  no  two  may  reside  at  the  time  of  their  appoint- 
ment in  the  same  congressional  district.  The  nominations 
of  the  Governor  may  not  be  considered  by  the  Senate  until 
referred  to  a  committee  of  five,  not  more  than  three  of 

*  Cf.  H.  C.  Adams,  Science  of  Finance,  pp.  16,  18. 
Lombard  Street,  p.  225. 


113]  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  nj 

whom  may  be  of  the  same  poHtical  party.  The  term  of 
the  office  is,  regularly,  six  years,  but  in  order  that  the  offices 
of  all  three  members  might  not  be  terminable  at  the  same 
time  it  was  provided  in  the  statute  creating  the  board  that 
the  appointments,  in  the  first  instance,  should  be  for  two, 
four  and  six  years  respectively. 

The  power  of  removal  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
Governor  and  the  Senate,  the  Governor  being  authorized, 
with  the  consent  of  the  Senate,  during  a  session  of  the 
General  Assembly,  to  remove  any  member  of  the  board  for 
malfeasance  or  nonfeasance  in  office,  or  for  any  cause  that 
would  render  him  ineligible  to  appointment  or  incapable 
or  unfit  to  discharge  the  duties  of  his  office.  A  removal 
so  made  is  final.  When  the  Assembly  is  not  in  session  the 
Governor  may  suspend  any  member  so  disqualified  and  ap- 
point another  to  fill  the  vacancy,  subject,  however,  to  the 
action  of  the  Senate  when  next  in  session. 

The  salary  of  the  members  of  the  board  is  $3,000  per 
annum.  Each  member  is  required  to  take  an  oath  and  give 
an  official  bond  in  the  sum  of  $25,000,  signed  by  sureties 
approved  by  the  Governor.  It  is  provided,  by  way » of 
eliminating  the  political  and  corruptive  tendencies  of  public 
office,  that  no  member  of  the  board  may  be  eligible  to  any 
other  lucrative  office  in  the  State  during  his  term  of  service, 
or  for  one  year  thereafter,  or  to  any  position  in  any  State 
institution  during  the  term  for  which  he  was  appointed, 
nor  within  one  year  after  the  expiration  of  his  term.  A 
precaution  looking  to  similar  ends  is  taken  in  the  section 
relative  to  the  prohibition  of  political  influence  or  contri- 
bution. It  is  provided  that  any  member  or  officer  of  the 
board  or  any  officer  or  employee  of  a  State  institution  sub- 
ject to  the  board  who,  by  solicitation  or  otherwise,  exerts 
his  influence,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  induce  other  officers 
or  employees  of  the  State  to  adopt  his  political  views  or  to 


1 1 4  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  I  j  j 4 

favor  any  particular  person  or  candidate  for  office,  or  who 
in  any  manner  contributes  money  or  other  thing  of  value  to 
any  person  for  election  purposes,  shall  be  removed  from 
his  office  or  position  by  the  proper  authorities/  Two  years 
after  the  creation  of  the  board  a  further  law  was  framed, 
on  the  recommendation  of  its  members,  to  entrench  the 
board  yet  more  firmly  in  its  independence.  It  was  provided 
then  that  the  levying  of  political  assessments  upon  employees 
of  the  board  should  be  prohibited,  and  it  was  made  a  mis- 
demeanor to  demand  or  solicit  from  any  officer  or  employee 
of  any  institution  under  the  control  of  the  board  a  contribu- 
tion for  election  purposes,  or  for  the  payment  of  the  expenses 
of  any  political  committee  or  organization.  The  signifi- 
cance of  this  law  is  shown  by  the  general  report,  that  in 
1 90 1  the  State  central  committee  of  the  party  in  power 
levied  a  tax  of  four  per  cent,  on  the  wages  of  all  State  house 
employees.  In  1902  the  tax  was  three  per  cent.^  The 
integrity  of  the  members  is  further  assured  by  the  provision 
that  it  shall  be  a  crime  for  any  one  of  them  to  accept  a  gift 
from,  a  person  or  firm  dealing  with  the  institutions  under 
its  charge. 

The  chairman  of  the  board  for  each  biennial  period  is 
that  member  whose  term  of  office  expires  first.  The  board 
is  authorized  to  employ  a  secretary  at  a  salary  of  two  thou- 
sand dollars  per  annum,  a  stenographer,  and  such  other 
assistants  as  it  may  need.  It  has  an  official  seal,  attesting 
therewith  all  commissions,  orders  or  other  papers  issued 
by  it.  An  itemized  statement  of  the  expenses  of  the  board 
and  its  employees,  properly  certified,  must  be  presented  to 
the  Governor  for  his  written  audit  before  payment  is  made. 
The  salaries  and  expenses  of  the  board  are  paid  monthly  by 
the  Treasurer  of  State  upon  the  warrant  of  the  Auditor. 

»Z.,  1898,0.  118,  §35. 

«  The  Register  and  Leader ^  of  Des  Moines,  la.,  Sept.  7,  1902. 


I  X  5  ]  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  i  j  5 

Turning  now  more  specifically  to  the  relation  of  the  board 
to  the  Legislature,  the  following  matters  arrest  our  atten- 
tion :  The  board  is  required  to  prepare  biennial  estimates 
of  the  appropriations  necessary  to  be  made  for  the  support 
of  the  several  institutions,  and  for  the  extraordinary  and 
special  expenditures  for  buildings,  betterments  or  other 
improvements.  Suggestions  for  the  benefit  of  the  several 
institutions  or  for  the  dependent,  defective  or  criminal 
classes  of  the  State  are  to  be  included  in  such  reports.  And, 
on  request,  the  board  or  its  committee  must  attend  meet- 
ings of  the  legislative  committees,  to  which  such  questions 
may  be  submitted,  and  furnish  information  that  may  be 
demanded.  The  board  is  also  subject  to  the  examination 
of  the  joint  legislative  committee  on  retrenchment  and  re- 
form. It  owes  a  duty  of  reporting  to  the  Governor.  Any 
wrong  or  abuse  alleged  to  exist  in  the  State  institutions 
under  its  control  it  is  required  to  investigate  and  report  to 
him. 

It  would  require  many  pages  to  set  forth  in  comprehen- 
sive detail  the  varied  relations  and  powers  of  the  board. 
The  purpose  of  this  study  will  be  as  successfully  served  if 
they  are  noted  in  broad  capitulation.  With  respect  to  the 
branches  of  the  administration  under  its  supervision  the 
powers  of  the  board  are  three- fold.  First,  it  has  the  general 
control,  including  policy,  finance  and  every  element  of  ad- 
ministration, of  the  State  charitable,  penal  and  reformatory 
institutions.  Second,  it  exercises  a  financial  surveillance 
over  the  affairs  of  the  State  institutions  of  advanced  or 
higher  education.  In  the  third  place,  subsequent  to  its 
creation,  it  was  given  the  authority  mentioned  in  the  his- 
torical outline  to  inspect,  and  indeed  administer  to  a  large 
degree,  county  or  private  institutions  in  which  the  insane 
are  kept.  The  powers  over  the  educational  institutions  and 
the  local  institutions  for  the  insane  are  incidental  and  sup- 


1 16  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [i  ig 

plementary.  As  the  raison  d'etre  of  the  board  was  the 
unsatisfactory  administration  of  the  State  charities  and  cor- 
rections, its  chief  functions  of  a  necessity  have  to  do  with 
them. 

The  institutions  under  the  control  of  the  board  are  the 
four  State  hospitals  for  the  insane,  the  college  for  the  blind, 
the  school  for  the  deaf,  the  institution  for  the  feeble-minded, 
the  soldiers'  home,  the  industrial  school  for  boys,  the  indus- 
trial school  for  girls,  the  industrial  reformatory  for  females  ^ 
and  the  two  State  penitentiaries. 

The  key  to  the  strength  of  any  administrative  officer 
or  body  is  his  or  its  authority  over  subordinates.  Such 
authority  is  the  imperative  condition  of  effective  control. 
And  here  there  is  nothing  wanting  in  the  power  of  the 
board,  for  while  the  executive  head  of  each  of  the  above 
institutions  has  the  power  to  appoint  and  remove  subordi- 
nates, the  executive  head  himself  is  appointed  and  removed 
by  the  board.  To  make  the  board  responsible  for  the  whole, 
but  at  the  same  time  to  make  the  obligations  and  powers  of 
each  executive  chief  stand  out  in  bold  outline  in  his  par- 
ticular sphere,  these  are  the  principles  of  this  system.  And 
so  far  has  this  purpose  to  centralize  authority,  first  in  the 
board,  secondly  in  the  heads  of  the  various  institutions,  been 
carried  that  it  is  made  a  misdemeanor  for  any  member  of 
the  board  to  suggest  the  appointment  of  any  person  under 
a  chief  executive  officer.  "  Thus  we  have  in  effect  civil 
service,"  remarks  a  member,  "  for  every  subordinate  officer 
and  employee  of  the  institution  knows  that  he  holds  his 
place  at  the  will  of  the  chief  executive  of  such  institution. 
Attention  to  duty,  ability  and  efficiency  in  service  are  the 
only  tests.  No  appointments  are  influenced  by  any  political 
considerations  whatever.* 

» Created  by  Z.,  1900,  c.  102. 

•  Conference  of  Charities  and  Corrections ^  1900,  p.  173. 


117]  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  117 

The  powers  of  direct  administration  possessed  by  the 
board  with  respect  to  these  institutions  are  in  general  per- 
haps even  larger  than  might  be  expected  in  a  central  cor- 
relating and  directing  authority.     The  board  has  power  to 
investigate  the  management  and  financial  condition  of  the 
institutions.     It  inquires  into  questions  of  insanity  of  pa- 
tients, determines  when  insane  persons  may  be  admitted 
at  the  charge  of  the  State,  and  divides  the  State  into  peni- 
tentiary and  hospital  districts.     It  compels  the  providing 
of  fire  protection  and  fire  escapes.     It  takes  pains  that  all 
employees  handling  money  or  property  of  the  State  shall 
give  bond.     It  is  empowered  to  require  certain  officers  to 
take  inventories  annually  of  all  the  State's  movable  prop- 
erty, and  quarterly  of  all  supplies  and  stores,  and  it  annually 
fixes  the  salaries  of  all  officers  and  employees  of  the  insti- 
tutions except  the  chief  executive  officers.     It  has  power  to 
investigate  the  question  of  insanity  and  condition  of  any 
person  committed  to  any  State  hospital,  and  may  discharge 
any  person  so  committed,  on  securing  the  recommendation 
of  the  superintendent  of  the  institution.     The  board  may 
transfer  patients  or  convicts  from  one  institution  to  another. 
It  has  power  to  arrange  for  the  care  or  transportation  of 
insane  patients  whose  residences  are  unknown,  and  in  cases 
of  questionable  commitment  may  investigate.     And  in  1900 
the  board  was  given  power  to  direct  the  purchase  of  mate- 
rials or  any  articles  of  supply  by  one  institution  from  an- 
other, the  value  to  be  fixed  by  the  board  at  the  reasonable 
market  price,  and  the  payments  therefor  as  between  insti- 
tutions to  be  made  in  the  manner  provided  for  the  payments 
for  supplies.     Two  of  the  most  prominent  powers  of  direct 
adn;?inistration  are  those  existing  in  connection  with  the 
board's  duty  to  provide  a  system  of  financial  accounts  and 
book-keeping,  and  its  authority  to  purchase  supplies  for  the 
State  institutions.     Sporadic  attempts  had  been  made  to 


1 18  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [j  ig 

accomplish  both  of  these  administrative  betterments  in  some 
measure  previous  to  the  creation  of  the  Board  of  Control, 
but  not  until  its  creation  was  success  attained. 

The  scheme  of  book-keeping,  of  accounts  and  of  the  pur- 
chase of  and  payment  for  supplies  as  adopted  in  pursuance 
of  the  mandate  of  the  statute  is,  at  first  blush,  complicated. 
And  yet  it  is  in  reality  simple,  so  far  as  control  necessarily 
involving  many  progressions  and  checks  can  be  simple. 
Each  step  has  the  virtue  of  clear  demarcation.  Conflict, 
overlapping,  with  the  attendant  dangers  of  shifted  responsi- 
bility and  misplaced  censure,  are  wholly  eliminated. 

We  may  note  in  some  detail  the  methods  used  in  the 
purchase  of  supplies,  for  they  illustrate  very  clearly  the 
pains  that  have  been  taken  not  only  on  this  but  on  every 
hand  to  secure  expert  administration.  The  aim  of  the  sys- 
tem is  to  secure  lower  prices  through  purchase  of  gross 
quantities  and  through  competitive  bids.  Once  a  year  the 
superintendent  of  each  institution  is  required  to  make  esti- 
mates, in  duplicate,  for  coal,  flour  and  canned  goods;  once 
ever}'  three  months  for  all  other  supplies.  These  estimates 
are  forwarded  to  the  office  of  the  board,  there  to  be  sub- 
jected first  to  the  scrutiny  of  the  estimate  clerk.  Errors  in 
computation,  classification,  footings — all  these  he  corrects. 
To  each  estimate  he  then  attaches  a  memorandum  of  his 
alterations,  and  makes  note  of  matter  proper  for  the  board's 
consideration.  Now  the  estimates  are  passed  upon  by  the 
board,  reduced  or  increased,  or  in  any  way  changed  as  to 
estimated  prices.  The  board  having  approved  the  corrected 
papers,  one  copy  is  returned  to  the  institution  and  one  filed 
in  the  office  of  the  board.  Considerable  margin  is  allowed 
for  changes  at  this,  the  plastic,  stage  of  these  little  quasi-bud- 
gets  of  the  institutions.  Estimates  noticeably  defective  as  to 
substance,  or  defective  in  the  important  formal  requirements 
of  signature  and  certification,  are  speedily  returned  for  cor- 


119]  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  ng 

rection.  And  supplemental  estimates  and  re-estimates  are 
allowed  where  conditions  suggest  their  value. 

A  trick  has  been  appropriated  from  the  ingenious  device 
of  card  catalogues  in  the  choice  of  colored  inks  for  estimates. 
These  inks  differ  according  to  the  funds  out  of  which  the 
estimates  are  to  be  paid,  blanks  for  articles  to  be  paid  for 
out  of  the  support  fund  being  printed  in  black  ink,  those  to 
be  paid  for  out  of  special  appropriations  in  red  ink,  and  so  on. 

The  next  step  is  the  making  up  of  the  schedules.  After 
the  loth  of  January,  April,  July  and  October,  when  all  the 
estimates  are  in  the  hands  of  the  board,  separate  schedules 
of  all  articles  estimated  for  are  made  up  for  each  institution. 
The  schedules  are  sent  with  printed  specifications  to  all  bid- 
ders and  wholesale  dealers  in  the  goods  required  in  Iowa, 
and  to  many  in  the  large  cities  of  neighboring  States.  Sam- 
ples must  accompany  the  bids  in  many  instances.  When 
the  bids  and  samples  are  ready  the  quarterly  meeting  of  the 
superintendents  of  the  institutions  is  held.  The  superin- 
tendents inspect  bids  and  samples,  leaving  a  written  note 
with  the  board  indicating  their  preference.  The  board 
then,  with  the  assistance  of  a  single  superintendent,  makes 
the  awards.  Then  follow  the  shipping  and  checking  in, 
both  conducted  according  to  carefully  prescribed  and  en- 
forced rules  of  procedure.  And  when  the  goods  are  checked 
in  the  stewards  make  duplicate  vouchers  therefor,  which  are 
sent  to  the  sellers  for  their  verification. 

Next  in  order  is  the  payment  of  the  bills.  In  this  process 
vouchers  for  supplies  pass  through  the  same  mill  as  the 
other  vouchers  and  the  pay  rolls.  The  pay  roll  and  all 
vouchers  are  certified  to  the  board  at  the  end  of  each  month, 
and  are  immediately  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  estimate 
clerk.  He  compares  the  pay  roll  with  the  schedule  of  sal- 
aries and  indicates  the  errors  therein,  and  he  examines  and 
makes  memoranda  as  to  the  addition  and  computation  in 


I20  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [120 

the  vouchers.  They  then  come  before  the  board  for  action, 
accompanied  by  a  memorandum  in  red  ink,  showing  the 
balances  in  the  several  funds,  out  of  which  these  vouchers 
must  be  paid,  the  object  being  to  keep  ever  before  the  board 
the  fact  as  to  whether  they  have  balances  to  the  credit  of 
the  institutions  in  those  particular  funds.  The  examination 
that  follows  by  the  board  is  carefully  made,  and  it  is  the 
practice  for  it  to  return  the  pay  roll  or  any  voucher  for  cor- 
rection, and  whenever  a  successful  bidder  has  failed  to  fur- 
nish the  article  contracted  for,  or  has  furnished  an  inferior 
article,  it  directs  the  superintendent  of  the  institution  con- 
cerned to  return  the  goods  or  to  make  a  proper  rebate  on 
the  voucher.  Upon  approval  of  the  pay  roll  and  vouchers 
by  the  board  the  secretary  makes  triplicate  certificates,  one 
to  be  sent  to  the  State  Auditor,  one  to  the  State  Treasurer, 
and  one  to  be  retained  in  the  office  of  the  board.  All  bills 
are  certified  in  the  names  of  the  parties  to  whom  they  are 
due,  and  on  receipt  of  these  certificates  and  warrant  from 
the  State  Auditor,  the  State  Treasurer  mails  a  check  to  each 
of  such  certified  persons.  On  the  other  hand  the  full  amount 
of  the  pay  roll  in  each  case  is  certified  to  be  paid  to  the  super- 
intendent, who  disburses  it  to  the  several  employees. 

A  recent  chairman  of  the  board  in  reviewing  this  pro- 
cedure observes  with  emphasis  that  the  system  is  such  that 
the  board  does  not  handle  a  dollar,  and  that  the  superin- 
tendent of  each  institution  handles  no  money  except  the 
pay  roll,  which  he  receives  for  disbursement  among  the 
employees,  and  what  may  be  derived  from  the  sales  of  the 
product  of  farms  or  institution  shops,  which  must  be  re- 
ported monthly  and  sent  in  to  the  State  Treasurer.  The 
system  has  met  with  the  degree  of  success  that  leads  him 
to  assert :  "After  very  many  examinations  in  different  States 
of  the  system  of  book-keeping  and  purchasing  supplies,  I 
have  found  none  where  they  are  in  all  respects  like  that  we 


I2l]  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  121 

pursue  in  our  own  State,  and  none  equal  to  our  system." 
The  system  has  remained  unaltered.^ 

Emphasis  is  laid  by  the  law  upon  careful  statistical  re- 
ports, as  upon  technique  throughout.  The  board  is  called 
upon  to  furnish  each  institution  with  books  and  blanks  for 
statistical  records  and  returns.  Duplicates  are  kept  in  the 
office  of  the  board,  upon  which  entries  are  made  when  the 
returns  come  in.  Provisions  conducing  to  the  dissemina- 
tion of  information  and  an  enlightened  policy  are  prominent 
features  of  the  law.  It  is  provided  that  the  board  shall 
gather  and  present  information  embodying  the  experience 
of  soldiers'  homes,  charitable,  reformatory  and  penal  insti- 
tutions in  this  and  other  countries,  also  regarding  the  most 
successful  methods  of  caring  for  the  insane,  delinquent  and 
criminal  classes.  And  the  duty  is  enjoined  upon  it  of  en- 
couraging scientific  investigation  of  the  treatment  of  epi- 
lepsy by  the  medical  staff  of  the  insane  hospitals  and  the 
institution  for  the  feeble-minded.  It  is  required  to  publish 
from  time  to  time  bulletins  and  reports  of  the  scientific  and 
clinical  work  in  such  institutions.  The  publication  issued 
by  the  board  quarterly,  called  The  Bulletin,  bespeaks  the 
great  activity  in  the  educational  work  of  the  board.  In  it, 
besides  leading  articles,  usually  scientific  papers  read  before 
the  quarterly  conferences  of  the  superintendents  of  the  sev- 
eral institutions  with  the  board,  are  published  the  reports 
of  the  meetings  of  these  conferences.  These  quarterly  meet- 
ings are  prescribed  by  the  law.  They  have  been  the  source 
of  much  benefit.  Even  a  superficial  examination  of  the 
reports  of  the  meetings  will  reveal  the  alertness  of  the  super- 
intendents, the  genuine  interest  of  those  participating,  and 
how  nearly  these  conferences  have  approached  the  true  par- 
liament of  administrative  education.  This  work  is  all  sup- 
plemented by  the  visitatorial  power  and  duty  of  the  board. 

*  Report  of  the  Board  of  Control,  1 901,  p.  7. 


122  ADMINISTJRA TION  OF  IOWA  [122 

It  must  Visit  all  institutions  once  every  six  months,  and  the 
hospitals  must  be  visited  by  one  of  its  own  members  or  its 
secretary  every  month.  In  fact  the  visits  actually  made  are 
more  numerous  than  the  law  demands.  Frequently  all  three 
members  of  the  board  make  the  visits  required.  The  visits 
usually  cover  two  days,  sometimes  more.^ 

The  supervision  by  the  board  of  the  financial  affairs  of 
the  State  institutions  of  advanced  or  higher  education  is 
scarcely  of  a  piece  with  the  general  intent  of  its  existence. 
It  is  required  tO'  investigate  thoroughly  the  reports  and 
transactions  of  regents  of  the  Stat'e  University,  the  trustees 
of  the  State  Normal  School,  and  the  trustees  of  the  State 
College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts,  and  the  books 
and  records  of  such  institutions,  for  the  purpose  of  ascer- 
taining : 

"  I.  Whether  the  persons  holding  positions  have  faith- 
fully accounted  for  all  moneys  of  the  State  which  have  been 
drawn  from  the  State  treasury  or  have  come  into  their  hands 
or  otherwise. 

"  2.  If  appropriations  have  been  drawn  from  the  State 
treasury  in  accordance  with  the  law  and  so  expended. 

"3.  Whether  such  persons  have  drawn  money  for  ser- 
vices, per  diem,  mileage,  or  expenses,  or  otherwise,  not  au- 
thorized by  law,  or  have  authorized  expenditures  without 
authority  of  law.** 

The  third  branch  of  the  board's  authority  is  the  most 
instructive,  instructive  because  it  comes  as  a  second  thought 
in  this  system  of  administration,  and  because  it  indicates 
the  line  of  evolution.  It  seems  to  declare  that  the  con- 
comitant of  centralized  administration  of  the  State  institu- 
tions is  to  be  the  central  control  of  local  institutions  of 
generic  type.  At  every  session  of  the  Legislature  since  the 
creation  of  the  board  a  step  has  been  taken  in  this  direction, 

*  Report  of  the  Board  of  Control^  190 1,  pp.  1 13-1 15. 


1 2  3  CHARITIES  AND  CORRE  CTIONS  j  2  3 

the  most  recent  of  this  class  of  powers,  that  of  inspecting 
and  supervising  societies  for  the  care  of  friendless  children, 
having  been  added  in  1902.  The  power  to  supervise  the 
county  and  private  institutions  in  which  insane  persons  are 
kept  h^s  many  elements  of  strength. 

The  board  is  required  to  visit  and  inspect  all  such  insti- 
tutions at  least  twice  annually  by  one  or  more  of  its  mem- 
bers or  by  its  duly  appointed  representative.  The  first 
inspections  were  made  by  members  of  the  board  personally 
in  order  that  they  might  know  of  the  conditions  prevailing 
in  these  institutions,  and  so  judge  of  the  merits  of  the  re- 
ports of  subsequent  inspections.  Superintendents  and  as- 
sistant physicians  of  the  insane  hospitals  were  also  appointed 
to  make  these  inspections. 

The  board  has  power  to  make  rules  and  regulations  touch- 
ing the  care  and  treatment  of  insane  in  such  institutions. 
The  rules  adopted  have  been  aimed  to  safeguard  their  treat- 
ment ;  they  have  required  the  establishment  of  night  watches 
at  institutions  when  necessary,  the  proper  number  of  attend- 
ants, fire  escapes,  medical  aid  and  so  forth.  In  case  any 
institution  fails  to  comply^  with  these  rules  the  board  is 
authorized  to  remove  all  insane  persons  kept  therein  at  pub- 
lic expense  to  some  other  institution,  State,  county  or  pri- 
vate, at  the  expense  of  the  county  which  sent  the  patient 
to  the  institution  in  question.  But  the  board  also  has  a 
discretionary  power  of  removal  even  in  case  of  compliance 
with  the  rules.  There  have  been  very  few  cases  of  non- 
compliance, still  the  removals  have  been  numerous.  During 
the  first  year  in  which  the  law  was  in  operation  forty-seven 
patients  were  removed  from  county  and  private  institutions 
to  State  hospitals,  and  seventy-two  from  State  hospitals  to 
county  and  private  institutions.^  Complementary  to  this 
power  is  the  authority  possessed  by  the  board  when  it  be- 

*  Report  of  the  Board  of  Control^  190 1,  p.  55. 


1 24  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [124 

lieves  any  person  in  any  such  institution  sane  or  illegally  re- 
strained of  liberty  to  institute  proceedings  for  his  discharge. 

The  question  now  naturally  arises,  what  have  been  the 
successes  of  this  rather  ambitious  plan  of  reform?  The 
answer  must  be  that,  on  the  whole,  they  have  been  remark- 
able. They  are  the  most  obvious  in  the  financial  results. 
The  Legislature  had  reduced  the  expense  of  the  support  of 
the  inmates  in  the  aggregate  by  $100,000  before  the  board 
took  charge  of  the  institutions,  and  yet  in  the  first  year  of 
operation,  of  the  support  funds  allowed  over  $119,000  re- 
mained unexpended.  And  it  appears  that  notwithstanding 
this  there  were  many  improvements  in  new  machinery,  that 
the  food  and  clothing  were  better  than  they  had  been  under 
the  old  system.  It  is  said,  too,  that  the  personnel  of  the 
employees  was  improved,  but  there  have  not  been  wanting 
some  assertions  that  this  is  a  mistaken  statement,  that  for 
a  brief  time  the  board  took  a  step  backward  in  this  respect, 
the  result  of  too  ambitious  reforms. 

The  State  Treasurer  in  his  report  for  1899  computed 
the  decrease  in  cost  of  operating  the  institutions  under  the 
control  of  the  board  for  the  first  year,  as  compared  with 
the  previous  year,  at  $379,49073»  01*  26.9  per  cent.*  The 
expenses  from  the  support  fund  for  the  biennial  period 
ending  June  30th,  1901,  were  but  little  more  than  those  for 
the  period  ending  June  30,  1899,"  thus  giving  an  earnest 
of  continued  economy.  A  comparison  of  the  expenditures 
for  the  Iowa  institutions  with  those  for  other  States  under 
the  decentralized  methods  of  management  is  also  favorable 
to  the  Iowa  plan.^ 

»  Treasurer's  Report,  1899,  p.  Ixii. 

»In  the  period  1897- 1 899,  they  were  ^2,114,619.75;  1899-1901,  they  were 
^2,167,906.07. 

»  For  the  year  ending  June  30,  1899,  the  per  capita  expenditures  for  the  Iowa 
institutions  were  ;55i45.50  as  against  ^175.68  in  New  York;  JI183.00  in  Minne- 


125]  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  j  2 5 

The  other  results  are  less  capable  of  statistical  demon- 
stration. The  service  resulting  has  been  declared  by  some 
better  than  that  of  any  State  having  a  formal  civil  service 
commission.  The  care  of  the  inmates,  and  especially  of 
the  insane,  has  improved.  The  creation  of  the  office  of 
State  architect  has  been  a  great  benefit.  This  officer  receives 
the  same  salary  as  the  members  of  the  board,  and  gives  all 
his  time  to  the  preparation  of  plans  for  additions  to  or 
improvements  in  the  institutions  and  the  supervision  of  the 
execution  of  such  plans.  A  most  conspicuous  result  is  seen 
in  the  steps  taken  toward  the  improvement  of  local  institu- 
tions where  the  insane  are  kept.^  The  board's  investiga- 
tions revealed  that  in  them  troublesome  inmates  were  locked 
up  and  treated  as  criminals,  and  that  the  food  and  wearing 
apparel  was  in  many  cases  very  poor.  It  was  shown  that 
little  or  no  attention  had  been  paid  to  the  cleanliness  and 
personal  habits  of  the  inmates.  In  some  institutions  as 
many  as  six  or  more  inmates  were  bathed  in  the  same  water ; 
in  some  they  were  seldom  or  never  bathed.  In  numerous 
cases  the  rooms  in  which  inmates  were  kept  and  the  furniture 
were  filthy  beyond  description,  walls  and  ceilings  broken, 
and  vermin  found  in  furniture,  beds,  floors,  walls  and  ceil- 
ings. There  were  cases  where  men  had  unobstructed  access 
to  the  rooms  of  insane  women.  These  bad  conditions  were 
largely  the  result  of  the  policy  of  awarding  contracts  for  , 
keeping  the  poor  and  insane  to  the  lowest  bidder,  or  to  per- 
sons with  ability  to  care  for  poor  farms  without  regard  to 
their  qualifications  for  caring  for  the  insane.     The  board 

sola,  and  jj5 187.40  in  Michigan  for  the  years  ending  respectively  June  30,  July  31 
and  September  30,  all  in  the  year  1900.  Moreover,  the  variation  in  the  per  capita 
cost  of  different  institutions  was  much  wider  in  these  States  than  in  Iowa  under 
the  Board  of  Control. 

*  One  of  the  most  striking  results  is  seen  in  the  greater  reliability  of  the  informa- 
tion secured  under  the  centralized  system.  For  example,  see  Report  of  Board  of 
Control^  1 90 1,  p.  57. 


1 26  ADMINISTRA  TJON  OF  IOWA  [126 

has  closed  those  institutions  which  were  not  taking  reason- 
ably good  care  of  the  insane,  and  has  greatly  improved  the 
condition  and  management  of  others.  It  has  discouraged 
the  counties  from  attempting  to  care  for  a  small  number  of 
insane,  though  according  to  the  late  reports  there  are  still 
thirty-one  counties  caring  for  insane  fewer  in  number  than 
twelve,  and  in  nearly  all  these  counties  the  insane  are  kept 
with  and  treated  the  same  as  the  poor,  though  the  law  pro- 
vides for  separate  care  and  different  treatment. 

And  lastly  the  high  personnel  of  the  Board  of  Control  is 
to  be  noted.  The  charitable  and  correctional  interests  of 
the  State  have  drawn  to  their  service  men  most  highly  es- 
teemed in  the  community  and  State  of  which  they  are  citi- 
zens, men  qualified  to  see  eye  to  eye  and  to  maintain  a  safe 
equilibrium  between  the  social  and  financial  demands  of 
their  charge.  Thus  the  contention  that  such  a  system  would 
draw  to  its  service  the  mere  political  camp  follower  has 
been  confuted.  Indeed,  one  cannot  examine  the  work  of 
this  board  without  profound  admiration  for  its  single- 
ness of  vision,  its  unqualified  aim  to  do  the  greatest  good 
both  for  the  individual  inmate  and  the  general  State  interest. 
Seldom  or  never  has  an  official  department  of  the  State  of 
Iowa  found  it  so  easy  to  secure  from  the  Legislature  the  laws 
that  it  recommends  or  the  appropriations  that  it  asks.  This 
is  the  best  evidence  of  the  general  satisfaction  with  the  system 
and  the  thorough  confidence  in  those  to  whose  care  it  has 
been  confided.  This  implicit  faith  has  been  such  indeed 
that  it  has  induced  legislation  which  in  the  future  may  in 
less  worthy  hands,  should  the  board  ever  know  such,  prove 
very  dangerous.  In  its  first  report  the  board  asked  that  it 
be  given  authority  to  expend  unused  balances  for  any  pur- 
pose deemed  necessary  for  the  several  institutions.^     This 

»  Report  of  the  Board  of  Control,  1899,  p.  52. 


127]  '        CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  127 

authority  was  granted.^  It  means  that  the  unrestricted  con- 
trol of  the  balances  has  been  transferred  from  legislative  to 
administrative  hands.  And  it  must  be  admitted  that  this 
is  a  rather  startling  departure  from  the  principle  of  demo- 
cratic control  of  public  expenditures.^ 

To  the  inquiry  as  to  the  future  of  the  administration  of 
charities  and  corrections  it  may  be  said  that  centralization 
might  be  rationally  extended  in  two  directions.  Indeed, 
such  extensions  may  prove  imperative.  In  the  first  place 
the  care  of  the  unfortunate  or  delinquent  may  be  made  less 
a  local  and  more  a  State  charge.  This  is  especially  urged 
with  respect  to  the  care  of  the  insane.  The  Board  of  Con- 
trol has  recommended  that  the  support  of  this  class  be 
entirely  taken  over  by  the  State. ^  The  other  direction, 
and  perhaps  the  more  important  one,  is  that  of  the  central 
supervision  of  city  and  county  jails  and  the  local  poor  relief. 
It  is  remarkable  how  little  discussion  there  has  been  of  this 
question  in  the  history  of  Iowa.  The  jails  have  been  left 
under  the  wing  of  the  district  courts  and  the  local  judicial 
functionaries  in  a  very  haphazard  way,  and  no  one  has  asked 
whether  the  inspections  have  been  made  as  required  or  wor- 
ried himself  about  the  care  of  prisoners.  And  yet  it  is 
doubtless  true  that  an  investigation  would  reveal  conditions 
similar  to  those  shown  by  the  Board  of  Control  to  have 
existed  in  the  local  institutions  where  the  insane  are  kept, 
and,  incidentally,  in  the  poor  houses  generally.  The  county 
care  of  dependents  has  been  discussed,  but  as  yet  little  or 
nothing  has  been  done  to  better  it.*  All  that  the  Board  of 
Control  has  shown  with  respect  to  the  county  care  of  the 

»  Z.,  1900,  c.  150. 
»  Cf.  Herriott,  op.  cit.,  p.  55. 
»  Report  0/ Board  of  Control,  1 901,  p.  51. 

*  See  W.  R.  Patterson,  County  Core  of  Dependents  in  Iowa,  in  Bulletin  of 
Iowa  State  Institutions,  vol.  iii,  no.  4,  p.  518. 


1 28  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  IOWA  [128 

insane  may  be  repeated  with  respect  to  county  care  of  the 
poor.  In  addition  there  are  to  be  found  among  others  such 
evils  as  the  mingHng-  of  insane  and  defectives  with  the  poor, 
of  children  in  arms  or  of  tender  years  with  adults,  the 
greatest  disparity  in  systems  of  book-keeping,  the  elevation 
of  graduates  of  the  road  supervisorship  through  mere  polit- 
ical "  pull  "  to  the  position  of  poor-master,  and  small  salaries 
and  inefficient  service.  The  Board  of  Control  has  not 
recommended  that  it  be  given  power  to  supervise  the  poor 
houses  or  jails.  It  is  probable  that  its  present  great  power 
makes  it  diffident  about  asking  further  authority.  It  would 
indeed  be  a  mistake  to  give  the  board  such  power  without 
at  the  same  time  making  a  very  liberal  appropriation  and 
adding  largely  to  its  force  of  inspectors.  Already  it  has 
declared  its  inability,  because  of  other  duties,  to  make  fur- 
ther personal  inspection  of  the  local  institutions  where  the 
insane  are  kept,  and  this  work  is  now  done  by  its  agents. 
It  has  been  recommended  that  a  State  board  of  charities  be 
created,  having  supervision  of  the  county  care  of  depend- 
ents,^ and  there  would  be  some  advantages  in  a  distinct 
board  having  such  powers,  and  perhaps  having  powers  to 
inspect  the  jails.  But  inasmuch  as  the  experience  of  the 
Board  of  Control  must  prove  of  immeasurable  advantage 
in  such  a  service,  there  seems  a  stronger  argument  for  add- 
ing to  the  membership  of  the  board  and  its  assistants  as 
may  be  necessary,  and  making  it  the  one  central  adminis- 
trative authority  in  all  these  matters. 

•Patterson,  he.  cit^  p.  527. 


CHAPTER  IV 
PUBLIC  HEALTH  AND  SAFETY 

I  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Administration  of  Public 
Health  and  Safety 

Only  within  recent  years  has  the  health  administration 
been  considered  in  Iowa  as  much  more  than  an  accidental 
phase  of  government.  The  death  rate  of  Iowa  has  usually 
been  low.  An  inland  State,  it  has  been  free  from  those 
epidemics  of  foreign  importation  which  occasionally  have 
ravaged  the  coast  States,  epidemics  that  have  caused  the 
insistence  upon  strict  quarantine  and  preventive  measures. 
The  advancement  of  the  health  administration  in  a  number 
of  the  Eastern  States  has  often  been  given  its  primary  im- 
petus by  the  yellow  fever,  the  Asiatic  cholera  or  other  scourge 
from  abroad,  until  the  State  afflicted  has  made  a  virtue  of 
necessity  and  brought  its  health  administration  to  a  high 
degree  of  perfection.  There  has  been  no  such  spur  to  the 
Iowa  law-makers.  Moreover,  the  lack  of  large  cities  and 
the  diffusion  of  the  population  over  extensive  areas  have 
tended  to  conceal  or  moderate  the  appearances  of  disease 
even  when  of  serious  extent,  disease  that  might  in  congested 
districts,  because  of  its  more  evident  destruction,  have  awak- 
ened public  clamor  for  reform.  Add  to  this  the  general 
conviction,  founded  as  it  is  in  fact,  that  the  health  of  the 
State  is  unusually  good,  and  it  needs  little  further  to  explain 
the  slowness  with  which  the  machinery  of  health  adminis- 
tration has  developed. 

129]  129 


1 30  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  10  WA  [  j  30 

From  the  years  of  its  territorial  existence  until  1866  the 
health  administration  of  Iowa  was  purely  an  incidental 
function.  Little  stress  was  laid  upon  it  in  the  laws;  less 
attention  given  to  it  in  practice.  The  evidence  is  slight, 
but  it  can  be  readily  deduced  that  the  conditions  during  this 
period  were  indeed  salubrious.  Quite  as  naturally  as  pre- 
ambles appear  before  constitutions,  or  enacting  clauses  be- 
fore the  substance  of  laws,  did  the  formula  of  congratulation 
upon  the  good  health  of  the  State  appear  as  the  opening 
sentence  in  the  Governor's  message  of  this  time.  "  Since 
the  termination  of  the  last  meeting  of  the  Legislative  As- 
sembly, it  has  pleased  the  Almighty  Power,  in  whose  hands 
we  are,  to  vouchsafe  to  the  people  of  this  territory  as  great 
a  degree  of  exemption  from  disease  as  has  fallen  to  the  lot 
of  any  portion  of  our  extensive  country,"  ^  thus  began 
almost  every  message  of  the  territorial  and  the  early  State 
period.  There  are  one  or  two  references  to  disease,^  but 
never  indications  that  such  disease  had  taken  on  calamitous 
proportions.  The  advertisements  of  immigration  agencies 
of  the  time,  and  the  pamphlets  prepared  by  various  com- 
munities to  induce  settlement,  painted  in  glowing  colors  the 
great  health  fulness  of  the  climate.  Though  the  utterances 
of  interested  parties,  they  seem  to  have  been  not  without  a 
considerable  basis  in  truth.  It  was  not  against  natural 
causes  of  death  that  the  pioneer  sought  to  protect  himself 
by  legislative  enactment.  He  would  leave  that  to  Provi- 
dence and  his  own  good  care.  The  frontier  desperado, 
the  Indian  and  the  wolf,  these  were  the  subjects  of  his  par- 
ticular solicitude  and  his  measures  for  safety.^  Public 
sanitation  would  have  seemed  a  pretty  and  useless  plaything 
in  such  circumstances,  and  he  gave  it  almost  no  thought. 

»  Gov.  Mess.,  Dec.  6,  1843. 

«  Gov.  Mess.,  1850,  H.  J.,  1850-51,  p.  8. 

»See  Z.,  1839-40,  c.  27. 


1 3  I  ]  PUBLIC  HEAL  TH  AND  SAFE  TY  131 

Nowhere  is  the  incidental  character  of  the  health  admin- 
istration better  illustrated  than  in  the  charters  of  the  early- 
towns  and  cities.  On  January  23,  1839,  "  the  President 
and  Trustees  of  the  Town  of  Bloomington  "  were  incor- 
porated, the  first  municipal  charter  under  the  separate  terri- 
torial organization/  The  subject  of  health  was  not  men- 
tioned in  it,  the  nearest  approach  thereto  being  the  power 
granted  the  electors  to  remove  nuisances  or  provide  for 
their  removal.  Two  days  afterward,  however,  Davenport 
was  incorporated,^  with  somewhat  different  and  wider 
powers.  In  this  case  the  Mayor,  recorder  and  trustees,  or 
a  majority  of  them,  were  given  power  to  make  by-laws  and 
ordinances  **  for  the  promotion  of  morality,  as  well  as  for 
the  good  regulation,  interest,  safety,  health,  cleanliness  and 
conveniences  of  said  town  and  the  citizens  thereof."  And 
it  was  further  provided  that  "  the  said  corporation  shall  have 
power  to  regulate  and  improve  all  streets,  alleys,  sidewalks, 
drains  or  sewers,  to  sink  and  keep  in  repair  public  wells, 
remove  nuisances." 

Substantially  all  of  the  charters  from  now  on  to  1850 
followed  the  one  form  or  the  other,  either  giving  the  electors 
of  the  city  a  general  power  to  abate  or  provide  for  the 
abatement  of  nuisances,^  or  lodging  a  power,  general  or 
specific,  with  the  city  officers  and  trustees.*  In  both  cases, 
however,  the  function  was  patently  incidental  and  little 
emphasized.  By  1850  the  first  form  was  practically  aban- 
doned, and  from  then  on  the  powers  were  placed  in  the 

*  Z.,  1838-39,  Jan.  23.  '  Ibid.y  Jan.  25. 

'  For  charters  illustrative,  see  Farmington,  Z.,  1840-41,  c.  44  ;  Iowa  City,  Z., 
1840-41,  c.  39;  Mt.  Pleasant,  Z.,  1841-42,  c.  19. 

*  For  charters  illustrative,  see  Ft.  Madison,  Z.,  1841-42,  c.  89 ;  Keosauqua, 
Z.,  1841-42,  c.  122;  Farmington,  Z.,  1846-47,  c.  79;  Fairfield,  Z.,  1846-47,0. 
38.  The  charter  of  Burlington,  Z.,  1845,  c.  54,  went  into  unusual  detail  in  re- 
spect to  the  health  administration  ;  same  in  Dubuque,  Z.,  1845-46,  c.  123. 


132  ADMINISTRA TJON  OF  IOWA  [132 

hands  of  the  city  councils.  In  the  session  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  1850-51  some  thirteen  towns  and  cities  were 
granted  charters,  and  in  no  instance  were  the  powers  in 
question  confided  to  the  electors. 

The  first  provision  for  the  self-incorporation  of  towns 
and  cities  was  made  by  the  Code  of  1851,  and  this  also 
followed  the  second  form.  It  provided  that  the  charters 
of  self-incorporation  might  give  power  to  establish  such 
ordinances  as  were  necessary  for  good  regulation,  safety, 
health  and  cleanliness,  to  provide  for  drains,  sewers,  public 
wells,  wharves  and  landing  places,  and  "  to  make  any  other 
ordinary,  suitable  and  proper  police  regulations."  ^ 

The  laws  begin  to  place  a  little  further  emphasis  upon  the 
health  administration  in  1853,  but  it  is  still  treated  as  of 
secondary  importance.  About  this  time  we  find  special  pro- 
vision for  health  officers,  indicating  that  it  is  now  becoming 
a  distinctive  function.  At  this  time  Council  BlufTs  was 
granted  a  charter,^  in  which  the  council  was  empowered  to 
appoint,  in  such  manner  as  it  should  determine,  street  com- 
missioners, a  clerk  of  the  market,  health  ofBcers  and  such 
other  officers  as  it  might  deem  advisable.  It  was  also  given 
authority  to  prescribe  their  duties,  their  powers  and  qualifi- 
cations, and  might  provide  for  the  election  of  any  such 
officers  by  the  citizens.  But  these  provisions  were  not  of 
great  significance,  for  a  number  of  charters  were  subse- 
quently allowed  containing  no  such  provisions.^ 

The  Constitution  of  1857  put  an  end  to  the  special  incor- 
poration of  cities  and  towns.*  It  provided  they  should  in 
all  cases  be  incorporated  under  general  laws.  In  pursu- 
ance of  this  the  Legislature  in   1858  passed  a  law  pro- 

»  Code,  1851,  §  665.  '  L.,  1851-53,  c.  64. 

»  Notably  that  of  Des  Moines,  Z.,  1856-57,  c.  185.  p 

*  Cons.,  1857,  Art.  4,  §  30. 


133]  PUBLIC  HEALTH  AND  SAFETY  J33 

viding  for  general  incorporation,  by  which  cities  were  to 
be  divided  into  two  classes,  according  to  population.^  AH 
places  having  a  population  of  15,000  or  over  were  to  be 
deemed  cities  of  the  first  class,  all  having  a  population  of 
2,000  were  cities  of  the  second  class,  while  the  remaining 
incorporations  were  to  be  known  as  incorporated  towns. 
And  the  law  provided  that  councils  of  cities,  but  not  towns, 
should  have  power  to  establish  boards  of  health,  with  powers 
sufficient  to  secure  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  **  from  the 
evils,  distresses  and  calamities  of  contagious,  malignant  and 
infectious  diseases."  Here  is  found  for  the  first  time  the 
provision  for  a  board  of  health  and  direct  consideration  of 
contagious  diseases,  but  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  law  is 
permissive  merely,  and  that  there  is  no  enforceable  obliga- 
tion resting  upon  the  city  council  to  provide  for  such  a  board. 

It  was  not  until  1866  that  the  health  administration  was 
made  a  specific  and  certain,  because  an  obligatory,  function. 
In  that  year  an  act  was  passed  constituting  the  Mayor  and 
council  of  any  incorporated  town  or  city,  or  the  trustees  of 
any  township  not  incorporated,  a  board  of  health.^  The 
powers  of  such  local  boards  were  full,  definite  and  described 
in  considerable  detail.  They  were  given  power  to  make 
rules  and  regulations  respecting  nuisances,  sources  of  filth 
and  causes  of  sickness,  to  remove  and  abate  them,  and  to 
publish  these  regulations.  More  specifically,  they  might 
make  regulations  concerning  the  cleansing  of  streets,  alleys 
and  drains,  concerning  the  communication  with  houses  where 
there  was  any  infectious  or  contagious  disease.  They 
might  establish  pest  houses  and  hospitals  and  remove  pa- 
tients thereto.  To  carry  out  their  work  they  were  author- 
ized to  employ  all  assistants  necessary,  fix  their  compensa- 
tion, and  employ  physicians  in  cases  of  poverty.  They  were 
empowered  to  levy  a  tax  for  the  expenses  so  incurred,  and 

'  Z.,  1858,  c.  157.  -    *  Z.,  1866,  c.  107. 


1 34  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [  j 34 

the  sanction  of  their  action  was  found  in  the  provision  that 
wilful  violation  of  their  regulations  should  be  a  misde- 
meanor, subject  to  fine  or  imprisonment. 

Later  laws  have  not  much  altered  these  provisions.  In 
1880  it  was  enacted  that  every  local  board  of  health 
should  appoint  a  competent  physician  to  the  board, 
who  should  be  the  health  officer  of  the  city,  town  or 
village,  such  officer  to  hold  his  place  at  the  pleasure  of 
the  board.  ^  In  1882  cities  under  special  charters,  which 
hitherto  had  been  neglected  in  the  general  health  laws, 
received  legislative  attention,  and  a  board  of  health  somewhat 
different  from  that  of  the  general  incorporations  was  estab- 
lished.^ It  was  provided  that  the  Mayor  and  aldermen  of 
each  city  under  special  charter  should  have  full  power  to 
appoint  a  local  board  of  health  consisting  of  three  or  five 
members,  but  it  was  stipulated  that  a  majority  should  be 
members  of  the  city  council,  and  that  the  Mayor  should  be 
a  member  and  chairman  ex  officio.  The  powers  of  boards 
so  constituted  were,  if  anything,  wider  than  those  under  the 
general  law.  For  example,  the  board  was  given  power, 
with  consent  of  the  city  council,  to  prohibit  by  public  pro- 
clamation the  congregation  of  people  in  schools,  churches 
and  other  public  places  in  case  of  small-pox  and  other  infec- 
tious diseases,  also  to  forbid  unvaccinated  persons  attending 
public  assemblages. 

The  results  of  the  establishment  of  local  boards  of  health 
were  not  particularly  obvious.  In  many  cases  things  seemed 
to  go  much  as  they  had  before,  in  many  the  law  was  not 
observed.  There  was  no  general  outbreak  of  disease,  no 
impending  disasters  to  quicken  the  popular  interest,  inspire 
the  popular  demand  and  so  read  the  law  into  the  life  of  the 
local  administration.  Things  crept  in  the  health  adminis- 
tration.    And  it  was  not  in  wide-awake  response  to  an 

>  Z.,  1882,  c.  168.  '  L.,  1882,  c.  168. 


135]  PUBLIC  HEAL  TH  AND  SAFE  TV  135 

insistent  summons  that  the  next  great  step  was  taken,  but, 
as  before,  sleepily  and  carelessly  that  it  came  about. 

This  next  supreme  move  was  the  creation  of  the  State 
Board  of  Health.  The  law  for  its  establishment  was  passed 
in  1880.^  Governor  John  H.  Gear  in  his  inaugural  address 
of  January  17,  1878,  had  made  the  first  official  mention  of 
its  possible  establishment,  but  his  recommendation  did  not 
call  for  a  board  of  health  as  the  institution  is  at  present 
understood.  He  said  that  he  had  been  requested  repeatedly 
by  the  medical  profession  of  the  State  to  call  the  attention 
of  the  General  Assembly  to  the  necessity  of  establishing  a 
State  Board  of  Health,  "  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  pass 
upon  the  qualifications  of  practicing  physicians,  in  order 
that  the  people  may  be  protected  from  empiricism.*'  But 
here  his  recommendation  ended.  His  biennial  message  of 
1880,  however,  pushed  the  matter  a  step  farther.  He  now 
advised  that  the  board  should  be  created  with  the  further 
powers  of  adopting  measures  for  the  protection  of  the  health 
of  the  people  generally  and  for  the  collection  of  vital  statis- 
tics of  the  State.  The  suggestion,  so  extended,  met  with 
the  favor  of  the  Legislature,  and  this  year  the  State  Board 
of  Health  was  created. 

The  powers  thus  conferred  upon  the  nine  appointive, 
unsalaried  members  who  composed  the  State  board  were 
taken  up  with  ardor  and  the  expectation  of  great  benefits 
to  the  State.  The  final  reason  for  the  creation  of  the 
board  seemed  to  have  been  that  of  securing  vital  statistics, 
and  it  was  on  this  feature  that  the  greatest  emphasis  was 
laid  in  the  first  few  years.  Indeed,  the  second  biennial 
report  of  the  board,  made  in  1883,  was  the  most  voluminous 
report  that  had  been  attempted  up  to  that  time  by  any  board 
or  officer  of  the  State.  It  contained  the  first  full  revelation 
of  the  working  of  the  law  for  the  registration  of  vital  sta- 

»/».,  1880,  c.  151. 


1 36  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [135 

tistics.  The  revelation  was  a  disappointment.  Imme- 
diately the  returns  were  tabulated  it  was  realized  that  they 
were  almost  valueless.  The  law  required  returns  both  from 
clerks  and  health  officers  in  cities,  towns  and  townships. 
In  a  total  of  428  cities  and  towns  reports  had  been  received 
from  but  'J2.  clerks  and  51  health  officers,  while  of  the  cor- 
responding officers  of  the  1,637  townships  but  413  clerks 
and  82  health  officers  had  reported.^  After  1885  the  at- 
tempt to  tabulate  and  publish  elaborate  vital  statistics  was 
abandoned,  and  while  a  perfunctory  compliance  with  the 
letter  of  the  law  was  continued,  and  several  attempts  made 
by  the  Legislature  to  improve  the  system,  nothing  worthy 
of  comment  was  achieved,  and  this  feature  of  the  board's 
power  remained,  what  it  is  to-day,  lumber  on  the  statute 
books — a  power  that  will  be  hardly  worth  its  printing  until 
it  has  been  subjected  to  a  strong  revitalizing  force. 

The  first  ten  years  of  the  board's  existence  seem  to  have 
been  consumed  chiefly  in  making  good  its  title  to  live.  On 
many  hands  it  met  with  the  coldest  indifference  and  the 
heaviest  apathy,  on  others  with  open  hostility.  There  were 
some  legislators  wholly  opposed  to  all  legislation  upon  sani- 
tary matters  who  favored  the  discontinuance  of  the  State 
Board  of  Health,  and  with  it  the  disbanding  of  the  local 
boards.^  Some  deemed  it  little  more  than  a  "  sinecural 
title  factory."  "" 

But  by  the  year  1890  it  was  less  harried  by  these  criti- 
cisms and  dangers  of  dissolution,  and  now  it  began  to  push 
its  claims  and  ask  for  added  powers,  for  powers  at  least 
commensurate  with  those  of  the  local  boards.  For  what 
was  its  rule-making  power,  its  authority  to  pass  a  sanitary 
code,  without  power  to  enforce  its  will  or  make  its  opinion 

1  Report  of  state  Board  of  Health,  1885,  p.  312.  »  Ibid.,  1887,  p.  I. 

*  Ibid.,  1899,  pp.  429  et  seq. 


I37j  PUBLIC  HEALTH  AND  SAFETY  137 

felt?  It  had  failed  through  legislative  indifference,  oppo- 
sition or  incapacity  to  gather  the  facts  as  to  the  births  and 
deaths  and  conjugal  conditions  in  the  State.  Must  it  fail, 
too,  to  get  even  the  faintest  recognition  of  those  rules  it  had 
been  given  such  fair-sounding  power  to  pass?  In  1885  it 
had  asked  for  authority  of  sanitary  supervision  of  all  the 
public  institutions  in  the  State,  and  that  the  officers  of  such 
institutions  should  be  required  to  report  all  cases  of  sickness 
and  deaths  to  the  board. ^  This  suggestion  was  not  con- 
sidered by  the  Legislature,  but,  nothing  daunted,  the  board's 
petitions  for  added  powers  were  reiterated  with  ever-increas- 
ing strength.  In  1889  it  asked  for  mandatory  authority  in 
all  matters  regarding  the  public  health.^  In  1891  its  plea 
took  a  somewhat  different  form.  It  asked  to  be  endowed 
with  the  power  to  abate  nuisances  and  establish  and  main- 
tain quarantine,  but  that  these  powers  be  exercised  only  upon 
the  application  of  resident  citizens  "  setting  forth  that,  for 
any  cause,  the  local  board  refuses  or  neglects  to  properly 
protect  the  people."  ^  And  to  enforce  the  reasonableness 
of  this  request  it  was  pointed  out  that  there  were  numerous 
instances  where  the  most  flagrant  violation  of  sanitary  laws, 
and  even  of  decency,  had  taken  place,  in  which,  because  of 
social,  business  or  even  political  reasons,  no  redress  could 
be  had  through  local  boards. 

Again,  and  for  another  season,  the  desires  of  the  State 
Board  were  disappointed.  The  State  had  placed  the  im- 
primatur of  superior  obligation  upon  such  rules  as  the 
board  might  devise,  and  from  time  to  time  brought  testi- 
mony to  their  paramount  authority.  In  1892  it  had  pro^ 
vided  that  local  boards  should  make  such  regulations  re- 
specting nuisances,  sources  of  filth,  causes  of  sickness,  rabid 

*  Report  of  State  Board  of  Health,  1885,  p.  99.  ^  /^/^^  j§8g^  p_  igg. 

^  Ibid.,  1891,  p.  205. 


138  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [133 

animals  and  quarantine,  not  in  conflict  with  regulations  of 
the  State  board,  as  might  be  necessary,  and  that  the  Mayors 
of  cities  and  towns  and  the  clerks  of  townships  should  forth- 
with without  other  authority  establish  quarantine  in  such 
cases  as  might  be  required  by  the  rules  of  the  State  Board 
of  Health  and  the  local  boards/  Such  laws  as  these  were 
the  outward  and  visible  sign  of  authority,  but  no  more  than 
this.  The  sign  was  present  but  the  substance  was  entirely 
wanting. 

Gradually  the  need  for  central  authority  of  less  shadowy 
outlines  began  to  be  felt  by  the  people  under  the  stress  of 
experience.  By  the  middle  of  the  decade  1890- 1900,  and 
from  then  on,  the  applications  of  citizens  to  the  State  board 
for  assistance  became  numerous.  The  aid  of  the  State 
board  was  asked  in  removing  nuisances  caused  by  stock 
yards  or  creameries,  to  correct  abuses  connected  with 
slaughter  houses,  improper  sewerage  or  drainage,  hog-pens, 
unburied  dead  animals  and  like  sources  of  offence.^  But 
to  all  this  the  State  board  was  obliged  to  turn  a  deaf  ear, 
permitting  itself  only  to  point  out  that  the  statute  had  given 
it  no  authority  to  abate  a  nuisance  or  make  any  order  there- 
for, or  enforce  a  quarantine. 

The  General  Assembly  was  not  so  much  opposed  to  an 
addition  of  effective  authority — though  there  was  beyond 
a  doubt  much  strenuous  protest  to  any  addition — as  it  was 
unconvinced  of  its  necessity.  Indeed,  on  occasion  it  had 
strengthened  the  State  board  in  divers  minor  ways.  In 
1898,  in  the  law  to  prevent  adulteration  and  deception  in 
the  sale  of  linseed  or  flaxseed  oils,  and  to  regulate  their 
sale,  the  State  Board  of  Health  was  empowered  to  make 
rules  for  the  enforcement  of  the  act,  and  it  was  provided 
that  the  board,  its  inspectors,  assistants,  experts  and  chem- 
ists, and  others  appointed  by  it,  should  have  access  to  all 

J  Z.,  1892,  c.  59.  '  Report  of  State  Board  of  Health,  1897,  p.  69. 


1 39]  PUBLIC  HEAL TH  AND  SAFETY  1 39 

places  where  such  oils  were  kept  for  sale  or  stored  or  manu- 
factured.^ At  the  next  session  it  was  provided  that  the 
board  should  determine  the  number  of  inspectors  of  petro- 
leum, not  to  exceed  fourteen,  who  were  to  be  appointed  by 
the  Governor.^  And  the  board  was  empowered  to  make 
rules  and  regulations  for  the  inspection  of  petroleum  pro- 
ducts and  for  the  government  of  inspectors,  and  it  was  given 
authority  to  prescribe  the  instruments  and  apparatus  to  be 
used.  Another  of  the  minor  authorities  thus  added  was 
that  whereby  the  board  might  prescribe  the  rules  for  the 
distribution  among  the  medical  schools  of  the  State  of  bodies 
from  poor  houses,  asylums  and  similar  institutions.^  These 
things  all  indicated  that  the  fixity  of  the  board  would  not 
again  be  assailed,  that  in  the  development  of  the  State  and 
new  State  functions  it  filled  an  important  place,  from  which 
even  the  narrowest  policy  would  not  be  likely  to  dislodge  it. 
At  last,  in  1902,  it  was  made  a  central  power — a  State 
administrative  authority  with  the  right  to  direct  and  de- 
mand of  the  local  administration  the  observance  of  its  will. 
This  was  accomplished,  however,  not  through  any  coddling 
of  the  legislative  favor,  but  through  a  striking  object  lesson 
in  public  catastrophe  and  sinister  inefficacy  of  the  law. 
Small-pox  had  broken  out  in  different  parts  of  the  State 
for  several  years  preceding  the  winter  of  1902,  and  each 
year  it  appeared  to  be  on  the  increase.*  In  1902  it  took 
on  unusual  and  what  to  outsiders  seemed  threatening  pro- 
portions. In  the  city  of  Des  Moines,  with  a  population  of 
over  62,000,  it  was  estimated  that  there  were  several  hun- 
dred cases  at  one  time.  The  disease  came  early  in  the 
winter  and  remained  well  into  the  spring.  Yet  there  was 
much  reluctance  and  slackness  in  the  enforcement  of  the 

»  Z.,  1898,  c.  52.  »  Z.,  1900,  c.  83. 

*  Code^  1897,  ^4946,  as  amended,  Z,,  1900,  c.  129. 

*  Report  of  State  Board  of  Heallh,  190 1,  pp.  34,  36. 


1 40  ADMINJSTRA TION  OF  IOWA  f  1 40 

quarantine  laws.  This  was  due  to  several  causes.  When 
the  disease  first  broke  out  in  Des  Moines  a  heavy  expense 
was  incurred  in  quarantining.  This  made  the  matter  odious 
to  the  city  council.  And  as  it  soon  appeared  that  the  dis- 
ease was  of  a  very  mild  type,  there  being  almost  no  deaths 
from  it,  the  quarantine  was  in  many  instances  relaxed  and 
indifference  prevailed.  That  the  mortality  was  so  low  med- 
ical experts  have  explained  as  due  to  the  fact  that  the  people 
of  the  community  and  their  parents  had  been  vaccinated. 
Among  the  Indians  at  the  agency  the  mortality  was  between 
13  and  14  per  cent.  Many  other  parts  of  the  State  were 
visited. 

But  this  enormous  per  cent,  of  disease  to  population  in 
the  chief  city  of  the  State  soon  attracted  attention  from 
abroad.  It  awakened  almost  national  interest.  The  appre- 
hension on  the  part  of  the  city  of  Chicago  was  especially 
strong,  so  strong  indeed  that  there  were  threats  of  discon- 
tinuance of  business  relations  with  Des  Moines.  The  State 
Legislature  was  now  in  session  in  the  city.  It  saw  that 
the  city  council  was  prone  to  disregard  the  advice  of  the 
State  Board  of  Health,  until  the  city  had  been  given  what 
was  almost  an  ultimatum  from  the  Health  Commissioner 
of  Chicago.  The  National  government  took  a  hand.  An 
agent  from  the  Marine  Hospital  service  made  representa- 
tions and  suggestions  in  the  case.  The  Postoffice  Depart- 
ment ordered  the  mails  fumigated  at  Des  Moines.  And 
now  for  several  days  the  churches,  the  public  library  and, 
nominally,  the  theatres,  were  closed.  It  would  hardly  need 
more  than  this,  when  enacted  under  their  very  eyes,  to 
induce  any  legislative  body  to  take  action.  And  this  the 
General  Assembly  did,  and  gave  the  State  Board  of  Health 
full  power  itself  to  put  its  rules  and  regulations  into  opera- 
tion in  any  community  neglecting  to  observe  them.  Thus 
under  the  pressure  of  manifest  need  central  control  was 
established  in  this  branch  of  the  administration. 


1 4 1  ]  PUBLIC  HEAL  TH  AND  SAFE  TY  141 

It  is  not  alone  in  the  boards  of  health,  State  and  local, 
that  centralization  of  the  administration  of  the  public  health 
and  safety  has  developed.  The  State  has  assumed  certain 
auxiliary  functions  which  have  contributed  to  this  end,  in 
the  control  of  cattle  diseases,  in  the  inspection  of  mines, 
and  the  inspection  of  milk  and  milk  products.  We  may 
nov^  trace  the  development  of  the  administration  in  these 
directions. 

Previous  to  1884  statutory  provisions  for  the  care  of 
cattle  diseases  were  practically  wanting.  Such  regulations 
as  were  made  and  enforced  were  in  general  customary 
or  a  part  of  the  local  health  regulations.  They  were  very 
meagre.  Horses,  mules  and  asses  diseased  with  nasal  gleet, 
glanders  or  button  farcy  running  at  large  without  any 
known  owner  might  be  taken  before  a  justice  of  the  peace, 
and  upon  his  order  be  destroyed  and  buried,^  and  police 
officers  and  officers  of  societies  for  the  prevention  of  cruelty 
to  animals,  or  magistrates  might  destroy  any  horse  or  other 
animal  disabled  and  unfit  for  further  use.^  These  were 
not  exactly  health  regulations,  but  they  were  about  all  the 
State  had  with  regard  to  animals  at  the  time. 

The  creation  of  the  office  of  State  Veterinary  Surgeon, 
like  the  State  Board  of  Health,  was  founded  upon  a  Gov- 
ernor's message.  But  the  State  Veterinarian  may  be  said 
to  have  existed  in  fact  before  he  did  in  law,  and  this,  too, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Governor.  The  office 
was  created  in  1884.  For  two  years  the  Governor  had 
received  many  calls  from  different  parts  of  the  State  for 
the  services  of  some  man  skilled  in  the  diseases  of  horses 
and  cattle,  competent  to  check  the  spread  of  glanders  and 
pleuro-pneumonia.  The  Governor  called  upon  the  prcn 
fessor  of  veterinary  surgery  at  the  State  College  of  Agri- 

»  Code,   1873,  §  4057;  C<><^'y  ^897,  §  5014. 
«  Code,  1873,  §  1484;  Code,  1897,  |  2339. 


1 42  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  10 WA  [i 42 

culture  for  services  in  the  matter.  In  most  of  the  locaHties 
visited  by  him  the  people  willingly  paid  his  expenses  and 
compensation.  In  the  few  cases  where  this  was  not  done 
the  Governor  made  a  small  allowance  from  his  contingent 
fund.  Impressed  by  this  experience  with  the  need  of  a 
State  Veterinary  Surgeon,  the  Governor  recommended  the 
establishment  of  the  office  in  his  message  of  1884,  and  that 
this  officer  be  made  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Health.^ 
The  suggestion  was  agreed  to  and  the  office  was  created, 
the  Governor  to  appoint  and  remove  its  incumbent.^  The 
State  Veterinarian  was  given  supervision  of  all  contagious 
and  infectious  diseases  among  animals  in  or  being  driven 
or  transported  through  the  State,  and,  with  the  State  Board 
of  Health,  might  make  rules  and  regulations  for  prevention 
and  suppression  of  such  diseases,  such  rules  to  be  published 
and  enforced  with  the  concurrence  of  the  Executive  Council. 
It  cannot  be  said  that  the  authority  of  the  State  Veterinary 
Surgeon  has  been  increased  appreciably  by  law  since  the 
institution  of  the  office,  though  something  has  been  done 
through  the  personal  influence  of  the  officers  themselves. 
In  1894  in  fact  a  step  was  taken  toward  local  control  when 
central  control  might  very  well  have  been  increased.  Pro- 
vision was  then  made  for  the  inspection  of  diseased  sheep 
by  county  sheep  inspectors,  who  should  be  appointed  by 
boards  of  supervisors.^  The  State  Veterinary  Surgeon  has 
no  share  in  the  appointment  of  these  inspectors;  they  are 
not  directly  amenable  to  him,  and  only  in  a  general  way  can 
he  exercise  a  supervisory  influence  over  them.  Another 
step  toward  the  diffusion  of  power  was  taken  in  1897,  when 
the  Governor  was  authorized  on  behalf  of  the  State  to  accept 
any  rules  and  regulations  prepared  by  the  Secretary  of 
Agriculture  of  the  United  States  for  the  eradication  of  hog 

»  Gov.  Mess,,  1884,  p.  19.  '  L.,  1884,  c.  189.  »  Z.,  1894,  c.  49. 


143]  '  PUBLIC  HEAL  TH  AND  SAFE  TV  1 43 

cholera  and  swine  plague.^  It  was  provided  that  the  Gov- 
ernor, together  with  the  State  Veterinary  Surgeon,  might 
co-operate  with  the  government  of  the  United  States  for 
the  objects  of  the  law.  The  chief  significance  of  these  pro- 
visions lay  in  the  further  fact  that  the  inspectors  of  the 
bureau  of  animal  industry  of  the  United  States  Department 
of  Agriculture  were  given  the  right  of  inspection,  quaran- 
tine and  condemnation  of  animals  affected  with  the  hog 
cholera  or  swine  plague,  and  sheriffs,  constables  and  other 
police  officers  of  the  State  were  required  to  assist  them. 
These  latter  provisions  may  have  increased  the  control  of 
animal  disease  in  the  State;  it  is  notable  that  they  do  not 
carry  an  abrogation  of  State  administration,  but  they  very 
forcibly  show  the  disinclination  as  yet  to  lodge  wide  powers 
with  the  State  Veterinary  Surgeon.  Of  a  similar  import 
is  the  law  of  1900  creating  the  State  Department  of  Agri- 
culture.^ This  law  provides  that  the  department,  among 
other  things,  shall  investigate  reports  of  the  prevalence  of 
contagious  diseases  among  domestic  animals,  and  report 
the  results  of  the  same,  together  with  recommendations  for 
remedies.  But  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  State  Veterinary 
Surgeon  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture. 

In  the  inspection  and  oversight  of  mines,  primarily  con- 
ducted for  the  care  and  safety  of  the  miners,  there  has  been 
a  transition  from  local  to  State  control.  Previous  to  1880 
the  function  was  left  to  the  counties.  The  board  of  super- 
visors of  every  county  in  which  coal  or  other  minerals  were 
mined  were  required  to  appoint  annually  an  inspector  of 
mines,  who  was  to  inspect  the  atmosphere  in  such  mines, 
and  upon  the  discovery  of  choke  or  fire  damps  in  sufficient 
quantities  to  jeopardize  the  health  or  life  of  the  employees 
or  miners,  he  was  required  to  determine  the  number  and 
capacity  of  additional  entrances  or  shafts  or  other  means 

Code,  1897,  §§  2350  et  seq,  »  Z.,  1900,  c.  58. 


1,44  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [1^4 

necessary  for  proper  ventilation,  or  ingress  or  egress  in  the 
case  of  explosions,  or  the  falling  in  of  the  entrance  or  shaft/ 

In  1880  it  was  provided  that  there  should  be  a  State  mine 
inspector,  appointed  by  the  Governor  with  the  consent  of 
the  Senate,  to  hold  his  office  for  two  years,  subject,  how- 
ever, to  be  removed  by  the  Governor  for  neglect  of  duty  or 
malfeasance  in  office.^  His  salary  was  $1,500.  In  1884 
it  was  made  $1,700.^  In  1886  the  number  of  inspectors  was 
raised  from  one  to  three,  the  Governor  to  divide  the  State 
into  inspection  districts  and  assign  the  inspectors  to  duty 
in  such  places  as  he  should  deem  proper.*  The  salary  was 
reduced  to  $1,200  per  annum.  The  only  further  change 
of  importance  was  that  of  1888,  providing  that  the  Execu- 
tive Council  should  appoint  a  board  of  examiners  consisting 
of  two  practical  miners,  two  mine  operators  and  one  mining 
engineer,  this  board  to  examine  applicants  for  certificates 
as  to  their  ability  to  inspect  mines,  and  the  Governor  to  make 
his  selections  only  from  the  holders  of  such  certificates.^ 

The  inspection  of  milk  in  cities  of  a  population  of  over 
10,000,  now  conducted  under  the  supervision  and  direction 
of  the  State,  must  be  regarded  as  another  direction  in  which 
the  administration  of  the  public  health  and  safety  has  devel- 
oped, and,  so  developing,  has  brought  State  control.  This 
is  a  rather  unusual  departure  in  State  administration.  In 
most  Commonwealths  the  matter  has  been  left  entirely  to 
the  cities,  be  they  large  or  small. 

The  office  of  State  Dairy  Commissioner  was  created  in 
1886.®  The  object  of  its  creation  was  to  prevent  decep- 
tion in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  imitations  of  butter  and 
cheese.  The  Commissioner  was  to  be  appointed  by  the 
Governor  with  the  consent  of  the  Executive  Council,  though 

1  Z.,  1872,  c.  44;  Code,  1873,  §  1567. 

««Z.,  1880,  c.  202.  »Z.,  1884,  c.  21. 

*  Z.,  i886,  c.  140.  »  Z.,  1888,  c.  52.  •  Z.,  1886,  c.  52. 


145]  PUBLIC  HEALTH  AND  SAFETY  145 

later  such  consent  was  not  required.*  A  very  liberal  appro- 
priation was  made  for  carrying  out  the  act.  But  it  was 
not  until  1892  that  the  authority  of  the  Commissioner  was 
extended  to  include  the  inspection  of  milk  and  the  granting 
of  milk  permits  in  the  larger  cities.^ 

II  Operation  and  Results  of  the  Administration 

The  State  Board  of  Health  is  composed  of  four  classes 
of  members,  all  of  whom  have  professional  qualifications. 
They  are  the  Attorney-General  of  the  State,  the  State 
Veterinary  Surgeon,  one  civil  engineer  and  seven  physi- 
cians. With  the  exception  of  the  State  Veterinary  Sur- 
geon the  board  has  been  thus  constituted  from  the  begin- 
ning, the  State  Veterinary  Surgeon  being  added  in  1884. 
The  term  of  the  seven  physicians  and  the  civil  engineer  is 
seven  years,  expiring  at  different  times.  These  members 
are  appointed  and  for  cause  may  be  removed  by  the  Gover- 
nor. Until  1896  there  was  no  restriction  other  than  the 
general  qualifications.  In  that  year  it  was  provided  that 
no  one  of  the  physicians  thereafter  appointed  should  be  a 
member  of  the  Faculty  of  any  medical  school  in  the  State.* 
In  1900  a  geographical  limitation  was  introduced.  The 
State  was  divided  into  eight  health  districts,  and  it  was 
enacted  that  whene\^er  vacancies  occur  in  the  board  it  should 
be  the  duty  of  the  Governor  to  appoint  to  membership  on 
the  board  physicians  residing  in  the  various  health  districts 
until  seven  districts  are  represented,  after  which  time  the 
annual  appointment  is  to  be  made  from  the  district  not 
represented  the  preceding  year.*  The  secretary  of  the  board 
is  the  only  salaried  member,  and  he  is  the  board's  executive 
officer,  though  the  presidency  rests  elsewhere.     The  secre- 

1  Code,  1897,  §  2515.  '  L.,  1892,  c.  50. 

•  Z.,  1896,  c.  91.  *   *Z.,  1900,  c.  88. 


1 46  ADM  IN  IS  TRA  TION  OF  IOWA  [  i  ^5 

tary  must  be  a  physician.  His  salary  is  determined  by  the 
board,  but  may  not  exceed  $1,200  yearly.  The  other  mem- 
bers of  the  board  receive  only  their  actual  traveling  and 
other  necessary  expenses.  The  sum  at  the  disposition  of 
the  board  is  limited  to  $5,000  per  year,  and  from  this  must 
come  the  secretary's  salary,  the  expenses  of  the  board,  the 
contingent  expenses  of  the  secretary's  office,  which  is  estab- 
lished at  the  State  capital,  and  all  the  costs  of  printing. 
The  statute  does  not  provide  for  a  biologist,  chemist  or 
laboratory  facilities.  The  board,  however,  appoints  an  offi- 
cial biologist  and  chemist,  whose  compensation  is  met  by 
fees  for  services  performed. 

The  functions  of  the  board  fall  into  several  categories. 
Its  functions  with  relation  to  the  local  boards  of  health 
constitute  perhaps  the  most  important  class.  Of  secondary, 
but  still  of  great,  importance  are  those  general  State  health 
powers  that  it  exercises  with  the  entire  Commonwealth  as 
the  unit  of  administration.  Embraced  in  this  class  are 
found  such  powers  as  regard  the  distribution  of  bodies 
among  the  medical  schools,  the  publication  of  circulars, 
bulletins,  etc.,  and  the  transportation  of  corpses.  In  an- 
other group  may  be  placed  the  powers  that  it  exercises  with 
the  State  Veterinary  Surgeon  in  controlling  cattle  disease 
through  its  rules  and  regulations.  However,  in  the  execu- 
tion of  such  rules  the  Veterinary  Surgeon  is  entirely  inde- 
pendent of  the  board.  Finally,  the  powers  that  the  board 
exercises  in  relation  to  the  inspectors  of  flaxseed  and  linseed 
oils  and  the  inspectors  of  petroleum  are  to  be  distinguished. 
A  still  further  class  might  be  added,  but  not  without  ex- 
treme qualification.  The  medical  members  of  the  board 
constitute  the  State  Board  of  Medical  Examiners,  with 
power  to  examine  all  applicants  to  practice  medicine  in 
the  State,  of  whatever  kind  or  school.  And  though  the 
secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Health  is,  moreover,  the 


1 47]  PUBL  fC  HEAL  TH  AND  SA  FETY  147 

secretary  of  the  Board  of  Medical  Examiners,  the  two 
boards  are  entirely  independent  and  have  no  legal  identity. 

Taking  up  these  powers  in  their  several  classes,  the  first 
to  be  commented  upon  are  those  found  in  the  relation  of 
the  State  Board  of  Health  to  the  local  boards.  It  has  been 
shown  what  a  fiasco  was  the  attempt  to  secure  the  registra- 
tion of  vital  statistics.  And  yet  had  the  law  been  workable, 
here  w^as  one  of  the  most  plausible  avenues  for  the  gradual 
upbuilding  of  administrative  strength  and  harmonious  rela- 
tions between  the  State  and  the  local  health  administra- 
tion. Under  the  law  as  it  stood  at  first  physicians  and  mid- 
wives  were  required,  under  penalty,  to  report  all  births  and 
deaths  to  the  clerk  of  the  district  court,  who,  in  turn,  was 
to  report  these  facts,  together  with  the  county  registration 
of  marriages,  to  the  secretary  of  the  State  board. ^  In  the 
same  law  it  was  required  that  the  official  physicians  and 
clerks  of  the  local  boards  should  report  their  proceedings 
and  such  other  facts  as  the  State  board  might  require.  The 
law  as  it  now  stands  supposes  this  double  series  of  reports, 
except  that  the  duty  of  physicians  and  midwives  has  been 
transferred  to  the  local  assessors.^  Under  every  device 
yet  adopted  there  has  been  complexity,  lack  of  real  coercive 
authority,  and  a  duplication  of  ministerial  officers.  With 
so  many  cooks  perhaps  we  should  not  wonder  that  the  broth 
was  spoiled. 

The  second  means  through  which  the  local  boards  might 
have  been  made  amenable  to  the  State  board,  had  the  stat- 
ute been  possessed  of  a  little  greater  vigor,  was  that  pro- 
viding for  the  making  of  rules  and  regulations  by  the  State 
hoard.  The  power  granted  was  general  and  with  little 
limit.  The  board  was  authorized  "  to  make  such  rules  and. 
regulations,  *  *  as  they  may  from  time  to  time  deem 
necessary  for  the  preservation  or  improvement  of  the  public 

1  Z.,  1880,  c.  151.       2  Code,  1897,  §  2566. 


148  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [ 1 48 

health."  But  not  until  1902  did  this  become  more  than 
empty  legal  verbiage.  It  then  became  real,  and  a  power  that, 
if  taken  full  advantage  of,  may  prove  to  be  the  corrective 
of  almost  every  evil  of  lax  township  or  city  administration. 
The  law  is  inclusive.  It  gives  the  State  board  power  to 
enforce  any  of  its  rules  and  regulations  when  the  local  board 
neglects  or  refuses  to  enforce  them,  and  for  that  purpose 
the  board  has  and  may  exercise  all  the  powers  given  by  law 
to  local  boards  of  health,  that  is,  the  State  board  becomes, 
as  it  were,  a  local  board  for  the  time  being.  The  expenses 
of  such  enforcement  are  to  be  paid  in  the  same  manner  as 
is  provided  for  the  payment  of  similar  expenses  of  local 
boards  of  health.^ 

This  is  the  important  element  in  the  new  law.  The  act 
whereby  the  State  board  was  created  provided  that  its  rules 
and  regulations  should  be  enforced,  and  gave  the  board 
power,  so-called,  to  demand  the  assistance  of  the  police 
officers  and  all  other  officers  of  the  State  in  securing  their 
enforcement.  Such  authority,  however,  proved  futile.  It 
was  narrow,  and  it  did  not  carry  with  it  the  power  to  make 
a  charge  against  the  township  or  city  whose  health  officials 
had  been  delinquent. 

A  number  of  States  have  provided  special  State  funds 
for  use  by  the  State  board  when  central  interference  is 
necessary,  but  it  would  seem  that  the  policy  of  making  a 
charge  upon  the  local  division  were  preferable,  for  it  will 
make  the  locality  alive  to  the  character  of  its  local  board 
and  alert  to  see  that  the  regulations  are  enforced.  It  is  too 
early  to  say  what  will  be  the  results  of  this  law  generally, 
but  so  far  it  seems  to  have  worked  admirably,  though  it 
has  operated  in  most  cases  rather  in  terror  em,  as  judges 
sometimes  say,  than  by  active  application.  To  December  5, 
1902,  that  being  the  date  of  the  last  information  obtained 

» Z.,  1902,  c.  107,  and  Code^  1897,  §  257  !• 


149]  PUBLIC  HEALTH  AND  SAFETY  i^g 

by  the  writer,  it  had  been  necessary  to  use  this  authority  in 
but  two  cases.  In  these  cases  the  president  of  the  board 
says,  "Authority  was  delegated  to  some  competent  and 
judicious  physician  to  do  the  work  at  the  instance  of  the 
State  board.  It  was  effectively  done,  and  no  wrangling  or 
litigation  grew  out  of  the  exercise  of  this  authority.  It 
was  exercised  only  in  cases  of  pcilpable  neglect,  and  left  no 
opportunity  for  litigation.  The  fact  that  such  power  could 
be  and  would  be  used  was  sufficient."  ^ 

The  secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Health,  as  its  execu- 
tive officer,  has  been  frequently  called  upon  to  render  per- 
sonal assistance  to  local  boards,  to  State  institutions  or  to 
individual  petitioners.  Such  questions  as  correct  diagnosis 
or  the  determination  of  causes  of  disease  in  special  circum- 
stances frequently  come  before  him. 

There  appears  to  have  been  little  effort  whose  direct  aim 
and  principal  purpose  were  to  secure  the  organization  of 
local  boards.  But  we  find  little  complaint  upon  that  score 
at  any  time  in  the  history  of  the  State  board.  One  of  the 
earliest  criticisms  was,  not  that  there  was  failure  to  organ- 
ize, but  that  there  was  failure  to  report  when  organized.' 
In  1883  it  was  complained  that  not  one-half  of  the  organ- 
ized local  boards  had  reported.  It  is  now  asserted  that 
there  are  almost  no  cases  where  organization  has  not  been 
effected.  Sometimes  the  fact  that  there  has  been  no  organi- 
zation will  transpire.  Usually  it  is  brought  to  light  by 
some  local  officer  attempting  to  exercise  a  power  which 
can  be  legally  exercised  only  by  a  health  officer  or  member 
of  a  board  of  health  or  its  agent.  Such  officer  will  be  taken 
to  task,  and  in  many  cases  organization  will  speedily  follow. 

Of  the  health  functions  exercised  by  the  State  board 
independently  of  the  local  boards  the  one  that  has  developed 

1  Letter  from  Dr.  A.  M.  Linn,  President  of  the  State  Board  of  Health. 
report  of  State  Boar  (i  of  Health,  1883,  p.  129. 


1 5  O  AD  MINIS  TEA  TION  OF  IOWA  [  j  ^  q 

into  the  greatest  influence  is  that  of  publication  of  circulars 
and  the  dissemination  of  information  concerning  sanitation, 
hygiene  or  the  diagnosis  and  the  cure  of  disease.  In  1887 
the  Iowa  Health  Bulletin,  published  by  the  State  board, 
began  its  career.  Several  thousand  copies  of  this  journal 
are  issued  and  distributed  every  month  free  of  charge  to 
all  the  local  boards,  to  interested  physicians  and  others. 
The  information  collated  in  this  journal,  as  well  as  that  in 
the  special  circulars,  is  directed  both  to  the  people  and  to 
the  medical  profession.  During  the  small-pox  pest,  for 
instance,  a  circular  was  prepared  describing  the  small-pox 
in  untechnical  terms,  so  as  to  enable  any  one  to  detect  it. 

Among  other  State-wide  functions  of  importance  is  that 
relating  to  the  transportation  of  bodies  of  persons  dying  of 
infectious  disease.  The  State  Board  of  Health  was  one 
of  the  first  to  adopt  rules  whereby  bodies  of  those  dying  of 
diphtheria,  scarlet  fever,  glanders,  anthrax  or  leprosy  could 
be  transported,  and,  so  it  is  stated,  it  was  the  first  to  provide 
for  the  examination  and  licensing  of  embalmers.^  Within 
the  last  few  years  a  number  of  States  have  enacted  laws  pro- 
viding for  such  examinations.  The  authority  of  the  Iowa 
board  came  about  in  a  different  way,  and  in  the  development 
of  that  authority  the  fertile  strength  of  the  rule-making 
power  of  the  board  is  well  displayed.  The  board  had  sought 
of  the  General  Assembly  direct  legislation  for  the  examina- 
tion and  licensing  of  embalmers.  But  this  it  failed  to  obtain, 
whereupon  the  opinion  of  the  Attorney-General  was  re- 
quested as  to  the  board's  powers.  He  replied  that  he  be- 
lieved it  within  the  board's  competence  to  legislate  in  the 
matter.  Accordingly  it  proceeded  to  the  adoption  of  the 
appropriate  rules  and  regulations.  And  under  the  rules  so 
adopted,  without  special  legislative  action  and,  so  far,  with- 
out judicial  endorsement  or  reprobation,  the  examination 

1  Report  of  Slate  Board  of  Health,  1901,  p.  78. 


1 5  I  ]  PUBLIC  HEAL TH  AND  SAFETY  1 5 1 

of  embalmers  has  continued.  This  is  administrative  legis- 
lation. Its  force  depends  somewhat  upon  a  third  party — 
the  transportation  companies,  which  have  been  authorized 
and  have  agreed  to  transport  bodies  coming  from  the  Hcensed 
embalmers.  The  rules  went  into  effect  September  i,  1898, 
and  by  June  30,  1901,  four  hundred  and  sixty-six  em- 
balmers' licenses  had  been  issued. 

Little  can  be  gathered  from  statistics  to  show  what  has 
been  the  effect  of  the  health  administration  upon  the  death 
rate  and  the  general  sanitary  conditions  of  the  State.  This 
is  due  to  the  deplorable  puerility  of  the  several  laws  for  the 
collection  of  vital  statistics.  As  has  been  shown,  none  worth 
publication  have  as  yet  been  gathered/  The  formidable 
compilations  of  uncertainties  and  statistical  guess-work 
made  according  to  law  are  allowed  to  rest  in  the  cabinets 
of  the  State  board  undisturbed.  For  they  are  well  nigh 
valueless.     They  are  certainly  misleading. 

The  method  usually  employed  to  test  sanitary  conditions 
as  modified  by  health  administration  is  the  comparison  of 
the  zymotic  death  rates  over  different  periods  or  the  zymotic 
death  rates  combined  with  the  rates  in  diseases  which  are 
most  subject  to  control  by  sanitary  regulations.  But  noth- 
ing of  the  kind  is,  as  yet,  possible  in  Iowa.  Not  only  is  this 
so  with  regard  to  the  State  as  a  whole,  but  it  cannot  be 
attempted  even  in  the  registration  cities.  Of  the  seven 
registration  cities  in  Iowa  in  1900,  which  were  Burlington, 
Davenport,  Keokuk,  Marshalltown,  Muscatine,  Oskaloosa, 
Ottumwa  and  Sioux  City,  only  three  provided  for  regis- 
tration in  1890,  or  gathered  data  sufficient  to  justify  an 
estimate  of  the  death  rate.  These  three  were  Davenport, 
Keokuk  and  Muscatine.  And  little  can  be  gathered  from 
such  isolated   instances.     The  comparison  of  the  general 

*  For  argument  of  the  btate  board  on  this  matter,  see  especially  its  reports  for  1895 
PP-  345»  346,  and  1901,  pp.  108,  109. 


1 5 2  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  IOWA  [1^2 

death  rate  in  these  three  cities  makes  this  sufficiently  evident. 
In  Davenport  it  was  16.4  in  1890  and  15.9  in  1900.  There 
was  thus  a  decrease.  But  in  the  other  two  cities  there  was 
an  increase.  In  Keokuk  the  rate  was  14.7  in  1890  and  19.  i 
in  1900;  in  Muscatine  15.7  in  1890  and  17.1  in  1900/  The 
matter  must  be  left  in  doubt  until  an  adequate  system  of 
registration  has  been  perfected.  But  there  seems  to  be 
ample  ground  for  assuming  that  the  system  of  State  and 
local  boards  has  contributed  greatly  to  the  improvement 
of  the  sanitary  conditions.  Outbreaks  of  disease  or  un- 
toward sanitary  conditions  have  usually,  though  by  no  means 
universally,  been  conspicuous  by  their  absence.  Still  more 
may  be  expected  from  the  added  powers  that  have  been 
conferred  upon  the  State  board. 

Of  the  State  board's  functions  in  conjunction  with  the 
State  Veterinary  Surgeon,  in  which  a  third  class  of  powers 
has  been  roughly  grouped,  little  will  be  said  here.  It  is 
sufficient  to  note  that  the  power  to  make  rules  and  regula- 
tions for  the  suppression  and  prevention  of  cattle  diseases 
enables  the  State  board  to  obtain  added  light  upon  its  pri- 
mary duty — the  preservation  of  human  health.  The  recent 
controversy  concerning  the  relation  of  tuberculosis  in  cattle 
to  tuberculosis  in  human  beings  illustrates  this. 

The  relations  of  the  State  board  to  the  inspection  of  flax- 
seed and  linseed  oils  and  the  inspection  of  petroleum  pro- 
ducts are  also  of  minor  importance.  As  regards  the  par- 
ticular interests  involved,  however,  they  are  very  significant, 
for  the  board  has  power  to  determine  the  number  of 
inspectors,  not  exceeding  the  statutory  limit,  that  shall  be 
appointed  by  the  Governor,^  and  also  has  powers  to  make 
rules  and  regulations  for  and  prescribe  methods  of  inspec- 
tion.'    The  State  board  is  given  a  very  close  control  over 

»  Twelfth  Census  of  the  United  States,  vol.  ii,  part  i,  p.  Ix. 
«  Code,  1897,  §  2503.  »  L.,  1898,  c.  52. 


153]  PUBLIC  HEALTH  AND  SAFETY  1 53 

the  inspection  and  regulation  of  the  sale  of  linseed  and 
flaxseed  oil.  Violation  of  any  of  the  provisions  of  the  act 
relating  to  the  manufacture  and  adulteration  of  linseed  or 
flaxseed  oil  is  declared  to  be  a  public  nuisance,  and  any  court 
of  competent  jurisdiction  is  authorized  upon  the  application 
of  the  State  board  or  its  agents  to  enjoin  the  violation. 
And  it  is  made  the  duty  of  the  county  attorney  upon  the 
application  of  the  State  board  to  conduct  the  prosecution. 
But  the  board  has  been  indisposed  to  press  legal  proceedings 
w^hen  the  county  attorney  or  oil  inspector  has  recommended 
that  they  should  not  be  pressed.  The  board  has  expressed 
its  belief  that  enforcement  of  the  provisions  of  the  act, 
further  than  the  duty  of  determining  the  quality  of  the  oil, 
should  not  be  placed  upon  it,  and  the  secretary  has  expressed 
the  belief  that  the  testing  of  such  oils  is  not  the  appropriate 
work  of  a  sanitary  body.^ 

The  State  Board  of  Medical  Examiners  and  the  State 
Board  of  Health,  though  legally  distinct,  have  a  close  rela- 
tion. And  this  relation  has  an  important  bearing  upon  the 
health  administration.  For  in  the  hands  of  the  board  of 
medical  examiners  is  placed  the  power  of  granting  and 
revoking  licenses  of  physicians.  There  are  numerous  cases 
where  physicians,  through  ignorance  or  a  desire  to  shield 
patients,  fail  to  report  to  the  proper  health  officers  cases 
of  contagious  disease  subject  to  quarantine.  In  some  of 
these  cases  the  board  has  disciplined  physicians,  but  the 
statute  gives  it  power  to  revoke  certificates  only  in  the  case 
of  bad  moral  character,  habitual  intoxication,  lack  of  quali- 
fication, incompetency  or  fraud  in  procuring  the  certificate, 
and  as  yet  these  causes  have  not  been  interpreted  by  the 
courts  to  include  delinquency  in  reporting  contagious  dis- 
ease.    This  being  the  case,  a  definite  law  upon  the  subject 

*  Report  of  State  Board  of  Health,  1901,  p.  21. 


154  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [154 

granting  the  board  power  to  suspend  and  revoke  certificates 
in  such  cases  has  been  recommended.* 

The  organization  of  the  auxiliary  health  administration, 
the  veterinary  department,  the  mine  inspection  and  the  milk 
and  dairy  inspection,  is  shown  to  a  great  extent  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  historical  development.  Here  we  need  add 
but  a  few  details,  with  some  comments  as  to  results. 

The  position  of  the  State  Veterinary  Surgeon  has  an 
unstable  basis.  Not  because  the  control  of  cattle  diseases 
is  an  authority  in  which  single-headed  and  centralized  re- 
sponsibility would  be  unwise,  but  because  it  has  been  the 
victim  of  legislative  chances  and  of  the  expedients  of  in- 
difference, it  has  been  spread  out  thin  over  so  many  offices. 
For  the  care  and  regulation  of  cattle  diseases  is  now  reposed 
in  no  less  than  five  sets  of  officers,  in  the  State  Board  of 
Health,  in  the  Governor,  in  the  officers  of  the  United  States 
Department  of  Agriculture,  in  the  county  sheep  inspectors, 
and  finally  in  the  State  Veterinary  Surgeon.  To  this  list 
might  be  added,  with  some  limitations,  the  State  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  the  Executive  Council  and  the  justices 
of  the  peace.  This  system  of  diffusion  of  responsibility 
has  taken  advantage  of  constituted  organs,  but  in  many 
cases  such  decentralization  must  have  meant  a  sacrific6 
rather  than  a  saving.  The  theory  of  governmental  checks 
has  been  carried  to  an  extreme  in  the  provision  that  the 
Executive  Council  shall  concur  in  the  rules  and  regulations 
for  the  control  of  cattle  diseases,  as  adopted  by  the  Veteri- 
nary Surgeon  and  the  State  Board  of  Health. 

The  compensation  of  the  Veterinary  Surgeon  is  five  dol- 
lars per  day  and  expenses  while  actually  engaged  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duties.  In  cases  of  emergency  the  Gov- 
ernor may  appoint  assistants  or  substitutes.  The  annual 
expenditure  for  this  service  is  limited  to  $3,000  per  year. 

*  Report  oj  State  Board  of  Health,  1901,  p.  80. 


155]  PUBLIC  HEAL  TH  AND  SAFE  TY  1 5  5 

The  point  worthy  of  most  attention  in  the  law  for  the 
inspection  of  mines  is  found  in  the  new  powers  that  State 
as  against  local  administration  brought  with  it.  With  the 
transfer  of  the  duty  and  power  to  the  State  there  came  a 
broadening  in  the  functions  and  authority  of  the  inspectors. 
For  instance,  when  the  mine  inspector  finds  the  air  insuffi- 
cient or  the  men  working  under  unsafe  conditions,  he  is 
required  to  give  notice  thereof  to  the  mine  owner  or  agent, 
and  upon  failure  to  make  the  necessary  changes  he  may 
order  the  men  out,  to  remain  out  until  the  mine  is  put  in 
proper  condition.^  Furthermore,  while  under  the  local 
administration  failure  to  observe  the  requirements  of  the 
inspectors  simply  made  the  mine  owner  answerable  in  "  full 
damages  "  to  the  person  injured  or  his  family,^  under  the 
State  administration  the  inspector,  in  addition  to  all  other 
remedies,  may  obtain  an  injunction  against  the  continued 
working  of  the  mine  when  the  requisite  appliances  are  not 
provided.^  The  power  to  test  the  oils  used  in  mines  for 
illuminating  purposes  and  require  that  they  reach  a  certain 
standard  is  another  authority  that  has  come,  though  rather 
more  recently,  with  the  change  in  the  administrative  sys- 
tem. The  State  Board  of  Health  is  empowered  to  fix  the 
standard  of  purity  and  establish  regulations  for  the  testing 
of  oils.  For  a  short  time  the  inspection  was  made  by  the 
mine  inspectors,*  but  now  it  is  made  by  inspectors  of  petro- 
leum products. '^ 

The  State  Dairy  Commissioner,  like  the  mine  inspectors, 
the  Veterinary  Surgeon  and  the  members  of  the  Board  of 
Health,  is  required  to  possess  special  qualifications.  He 
must  have  "  a  practical  knowledge  of  and  experience  in  the 
manufacture  of  dairy  products.''  He  is  allowed  a  salary  of 
$1,500  per  year,  and  must  devote  all  of  his  time  to  the  work 

1  Code,  1897,  §  2488.    »  Code,  i873,.§  1568.    '  Code,  1897,  §  2492. 
*'Ibid.,  1897,  §  2945.  *Z.,  1893,  c.  60. 


156  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [156 

of  his  office.  His  position  is  unique  among  those  branches 
of  the  administration  in  which  are  found  both  local  and 
central  officers.  To  the  extent  that  the  State  has  authority- 
over  the  local  milk  supply,  its  regulation  and  inspection", 
it  is  entirely  central  control.  The  local  inspectors  are  ap- 
pointed by  the  State  Dairy  Commissioner,  and  are  answer- 
able to  him  alone.  They  are  subject  neither  to  city  council 
nor  county  board  of  supervisors.  But  it  is  to  be  remembered 
that  the  jurisdiction  is  limited.  It  applies  only  to  cities 
having  a  population  over  10,000.  In  1901  there  were  four- 
teen cities  within  this  class  in  the  State,  their  aggregate 
population  amounting  to  about  sixteen  per  cent,  of  that  of 
the  entire  State. 

There  is  one  inspector  in  each  of  these  cities.  He  is 
payable  at  the  rate  of  $3.00  per  day  for  each  day  that  he 
is  employed.  In  no  case  does  he  work  less  than  three  days 
in  each  month,  while  in  Des  Moines,  where  more  than  one- 
fourth  of  the  total  permits  are  issued,  he  works  on  an 
average  of  fourteen  days.  At  first  samples  were  sent  to 
the  State  Dairy  Commissioner  himself  for  inspection,  but 
with  the  introduction  of  the  Babcock  test  this  has  become 
unnecessary.  However,  monthly  reports  of  the  inspections 
are  made  to  the  Commissioner,  so  he  is  enabled  to  keep  a 
careful  lookout  for  cases  falling  below  the  minimum  grade. 
Indeed,  the  power  of  the  Commissioner  himself  to  inspect 
and  administer  the  law  is  in  no  wise  diminished  by  the 
existence  of  these  agents.  He,  as  well  as  his  inspectors, 
may  open  any  can  or  vessel  in  which  milk  or  cream  is  offered 
for  sale  in  one  of  the  cities  in  the  class  concerned.  And 
he  has  the  power,  very  often  refused  to  administrative 
officers,  to  subpoena  witnesses,  enforce  their  attendance  and 
examine  them  under  an  oath  administered  by  himself. 

If  we  place  the  several  branches  of  the  administration  of 
health  and  safety  side  by  side  and  notice  their  relations,  the 


157]  PUBLIC  HEAL  TH  AND  SAFE  TY  157 

one  to  the  other,  the  conspectus  will  cause  several  important 
facts  immediately  to  appear.  It  becomes  apparent  that  the 
State  Board  of  Health  is  the  paramount  authority.  The  State 
board  is  seen  to  touch  every  branch  of  the  health  administra- 
tion with  the  exception  of  the  dairy  and  milk  inspection.  It 
touches  them  through  its  legislative  authority,  that  is,  its 
power  to  make  rules  and  regulations.  This  is  the  chief 
source  of  its  power,  but  the  several  branches  feel  its  admin- 
istrative influence  as  well,  the  local  boards  of  health  in  their 
liability  to  the  State  administrative  action  should  they  ne- 
glect the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  State  board,  the  several 
inspectors  of  oils,  petroleum  and  mines  in  their  obligation 
to  heed  the  rules  of  the  board,  and  in  various  incidents  of 
administrative  power.  However,  the  State  Veterinary  Sur- 
geon, though  the  rules  that  he  enforces  are  the  rules  of  the 
State  board,  is,  so  far  as  the  State  board  is  concerned, 
an  independent  executive  agent.  Almost  as  much  is  to  be 
said  of  the  mine  inspectors. 

Another  prime  fact  is  that  all  the  officers  in  this  depart- 
ment of  administration  are  appointed  by  the  Governor,  and 
are  removable  by  him.  With  the  exception  of  the  members 
of  the  State  Board  of  Health  not  otherwise  officers  of  the 
State,  whose  term  is  seven  years,  the  term  of  office  is  short, 
generally  two  years;  in  the  case  of  the  State  Veterinary 
Surgeon  three.  This  means  a  large  measure  of  executive 
direction  and  control. 

In  any  forecast  of  the  future  of  the  health  administration 
it  should  be  remembered  that  the  tendency  of  recent  legis- 
lation has  been  to  bestow  even  greater  powers  upon  the 
State  Board  of  Health,  both  in  its  relation  to  the  general 
State  administration,  whether  it  concern  immediately  or 
remotely  the  public  health,  and  in  its  power  over  the  local 
boards.  It  should  also  be  observed  that  this  has  been  done 
without  increasing  the  material  equipment  of  the  board, 


158  AD  MINIS  TRA  TION  OF  IOWA  [  i  5  g 

without  providing  for  assistants,  or  longer  or  more  prop- 
erly executive  sessions  of  the  board.  Five  thousand  dollars 
remains  the  limit  of  the  appropriation.  There  are  as  yet 
no  laboratory  facilities  and  no  official  chemist  or  biologist. 
It  would  seem  that  the  future  of  health  administration 
generally  is  to  be  in  the  direction  of  greater  scientific  inves- 
tigation. Modern  research  has  shown  that  nuisances  and 
filth  have  comparatively  little  causative  relation  to  disease,^ 
yet,  as  we  have  seen,  the  he'alth  administration  in  its  earliest 
form  in  Iowa  took  the  direction  of  the  abatement  of  nui- 
sances, and  in  that  form  has  occupied  a  large  part  of  the 
law  to  the  present  time.  But  now  the  road  seems  turning; 
with  it  the  demand  for  greater  facilities  for  scientific  inves- 
tigation and  experiment  are  met  with.  Thus  the  need  for 
laboratory  facilities,  the  need  for  central  strength  to  exer- 
cise the  powers  now  given  the  State  board  to  enforce  its 
rules,  and  the  gradual  accumulation  of  many  minor  functions 
in  its  hands — these  things  all  point  toward  the  need  of 
upbuilding  at  the  center.  The  powers  have  received  a  wise 
extension  and  circumscription.  The  material  tools  now 
remain  to  be  provided.  In  some  other  branches  of  the 
health  administration,  particularly  in  the  care  of  cattle  dis- 
eases, where  authority  is  held  in  so  many  hands,  and  where 
consolidation  would  appear  to  be  of  advantage,  there  may 
appear  opportunities  for  improvement,  but,  as  a  whole,  it  is  to 
be  said  that  the  administration  of  public  health  and  safety 
has  been  wisely  organized.. 

1  New  York  State  Library  Bulletin,  no.  72,  p.  157. 


CHAPTER  V 

PUBLIC  FINANCE:  INCOME  AND  ADMINIS- 
TRATION 

I  General  Character  of  the  Income  Administration 

The  study  of  the  income  administration  of  the  State  of 
Iowa,  and  of  its  finance  administration  generally,  is  instruc- 
tive not  so  much  for  what  it  now  is  as  for  what  it  has  been. 
As  a  development  it  is  of  striking  suggestiveness.  But 
the  product  of  that  development  is  not  what  might  have  been 
expected.  We  shall  find  in  the  history  of  this  administra- 
tion, in  the  interplay  of  harmonious  or  antagonistic  forces 
that  have  worked  now  to  the  peaceful  sustenance  of  the 
State,  now  to  heated  ferments  in  courts,  Legislatures  and 
political  conventions,  a  drama  of  the  controversies  of  the 
day.  The  question  of  segregation,  that  is,  of  the  separation 
of  State  and  local  sources  of  revenue,  the  question  of  cen- 
tral or  local  assessments,  the  questions  of  uniformity  and 
equality  of  burdens,  all  of  these  have  at  one  time  or  another 
occupied  the  center  of  the  stage,  and  one  by  one  they  have 
to  a  large  degree  been  thrust  back  by  the  iron  discipline  of 
judicial  interpretation,  by  the  indifference  of  the  people  or 
their  representatives,  or  by  the  manipulations  of  the  supple 
agents  of  special  interests. 

To-day  the  financial  system  of  Iowa,  like  that  of  the  great 
majority  of  the  States,  offers  but  a  bleak  prospect  to  the 
searcher  for  evidences  of  advancement  in  financial  institu- 
tions. Here  and  there  he  does  encounter  something  that 
159]  159 


1 60  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [ 1 60 

commends  itself  to  his  opinion,  the  inheritance  tax,  or  the 
State  assessment  of  the  values  of  non-local  public  service 
corporations,  but  these  are  almost  overborne  by  the  dead 
level  of  the  general  property  tax,  which  has  stretched  its 
paralyzing  influence  over  all  forms  of  value  alike.  But 
there  was  a  time  in  the  history  of  the  State  when  there 
seemed  every  promise  of  a  separation  of  State  and  local 
revenues,  and  State  equalization  not  only  as  between  counties 
but  as  between  towns  as  well,  not  only  as  between  real  prop- 
erty values  but  as  between  personal  values  also,  these  and 
other  measures  of  advancement.  Because  of  these  facts, 
then,  our  study  of  the  income  administration  will  be  more 
preponderatingly  historical  than  has  been  that  of  the  school, 
the  institutional  or  the  health  administration,  and  we  shall 
content  ourselves  with  only  a  brief  examination  of  the  sys- 
tem of  to-day. 

There  is  no  branch  of  the  administration  so  difficult,  none 
so  involved,  as  the  financial.  So  multitudinous  is  the  ma- 
chinery of  that  administration,  so  various  its  parts,  that  we 
may  speak  of  centralization  or  decentralization  and  mean 
any  one  of  half  a  dozen  things  if  we  do  not  take  the  pains 
to  define  the  connotation  of  the  moment.  For  this  reason 
it  is  necessary  that  a  plan  somewhat  rigidly  systematic  be 
pursued  in  the  treatment  of  this  branch  of  the  subject. 

First  we  shall  take  a  brief  historical  survey  of  the  begin- 
nings of  the  finances  down  to  and  including  the  Code  of 
1 85 1.  There  will  then  follow  a  detailed  analysis  of  the 
specific  movements  that  begin  with  the  middle  of  the  cen- 
tury, of  the  rise  and  decline  of  segregation,  of  State  assess- 
ment, of  State  equalization  and  of  State  direction  of  the 
local  administration.  And  a  final  section  will  discuss  the 
correlation  of  the  various  processes  of  centralization  or 
decentralization,  and  the  possible  remedies  for  present  de- 
fects.    The  first  two  divisions  will  supplement  the  one  the 


1 6 1  ]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  1 5  j 

other.  Both  will  be  historical.  The  reasons  for  particular 
discussion  of  segregation,  State  assessment,  State  equaliza- 
tion and  State  supervision  of  local  administration  will  readily 
appear  as  the  reader  progresses.  It  will  be  seen  that  in 
them  are  wrapped  up  practically  all  the  problems  of  the 
finance  administration,  and  more  especially  those  of  cen- 
tralization. 

II  Historical  Survey  of  State  Taxes  and  State  Tax 
Administration,  1834- 1860 

In  the  year  1834  Iowa  was  redeemed  from  that  peculiar 
condition  of  civil  neglect  which  had  left  it  almost  a  for- 
gotten land  on  the  outskirts  of  a  vigorous  government,  a  land 
over  which,  though  a  part  of  the  United  States,  a  President 
of  the  United  States  refused  to  exercise  authority,  believing 
he  had  none.^  In  the  year  1834  it  was  given  a  civil  status. 
It  was  made  a  part  of  the  territory  of  Michigan.  Prior 
to  this  time,  it  seems,  no  taxes  had  been  levied;^  Whateven 
sums  were  needed  for  the  execution  of  the  rude  squatter 
government  of  the  day  were  raised  by  voluntary  contribur 
tion.  In  a  day  when  without  any  lawful  court  to  try  civil 
causes  or  criminal  complaints,  the  self-constituted  tribunals 
of  the  people  assumed  to  condemn  even  to  death,  then  raised 
the  costs  of  the  trial  by  popular  collection,®  financial  prac- 
tice and  financial  administration  of  course  had  no  place. 

But  with  the  territorial  Constitution  there  was  at  leasts  a 
law  for  taxation,  whether  there  was  any  substantial  levy  and 
collection  or  not.  Beginning  with  this  new  era  in  1834  and 
extending  to  the  year  1851,  when  the  first  code  wa«  adopted-, 
we  have  a  period  that,  corresponding  somewhat  to  the 
earliest  period  in  the  school  administration,  wc  may  describe 

*See  MaLcy  op.  cit.,  p.  350. 

"  See  F.  H.  Noble,  Taxation  in  lotaa^  p.  10. 

•Macy,  op.  cit.t  p.  35,0. 


1 62  ADMimSTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [" 1 52 

as  one  of  pronounced  decentralization.  The  taxes  during 
this  time  are  of  the  nature  of  general  property  taxes,  poll 
taxes  or  license  fees.  And  their  administration  is  at  no 
time  given  any  modicum  of  very  effective  central  control. 
In  the  early  years  of  the  period  the  central  State  govern- 
ment is,  in  the  matter  of  contributions,  almost  left  to  the 
mercy  of  the  local  divisions,  so  loose  is  the  law. 

Of  prime  importance  in  the  first  twelve  years  of  this 
period  is  the  territorial  status.  For  during  the  territorial 
period  the  government  is  supported  in  chief,  though  not 
entirely,  by  the  national  purse.  This  fact  promotes  an  un- 
healthy torpor.  The  central  territorial  government  is  to 
a  degree  careless  of  the  financial  enginery  of  the  local.  It 
expects  little  from  it,  and,  as  if  it  were  not  worth  while,  is 
indisposed  to  make  fast  that  little.  In  1838,  after  having 
passed  from  under  the  overlordship  of  Michigan,  then  been 
severed  from  the  Wisconsin  territory  and  government  and 
made  a  territory  by  itself.  Congress,  to  launch  the  new 
government,  granted  the  sum  of  $24,675,  out  of  which  the 
civil  list,  the  expenses  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  and  the 
printing  of  the  laws  and  taking  of  the  census  were  to  be 
paid.  Congress  also  made  appropriations  for  territorial 
buildings,  a  penitentiary  and  a  library,  part  of  which  it 
augmented  from  time  to  time,  while  it  continued  its  appro- 
priations in  ever-increasing  amounts  for  the  support  of  the 
territorial  government.  But  apparently  the  sums  were  not 
adequate  to  the  needs  of  the  territory,  for  the  treasury  was 
continually  running  behind,  and  the  messages  of  the  Gov- 
ernors continually  demanding  an  economical  administra- 
tion.^ It  can  hardly  be  said  that  the  financial  administration 
of  the  territory  was  a  success.  This  is  imputable  to  several 
causes.  If  the  tirades  of  many  who  voiced  contemporary 
sentiment  on  this  matter,  or  even  the  milder  criticisms  of 

»Sce  Gov.  Mess.t  H.  J.,  1840-41,  p.  12;  IHd.,  1841-42,  p.  15. 


1 63]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  1 63 

executive  messages  are  to  be  accepted,  it  was  largely  due 
to  the  parsimony  of  the  National  government/  Especially 
was  the  government  accused  of  failure  to  make  adequate 
appropriations  for  the  penitentiary  that  it  had  fathered.  A 
second  cause  is  found  in  the  failure  of  the  counties  to  pay 
over  to  the  Territorial  Treasurer  their  proportion  of  the 
territorial  levy.  The  first  year  of  the  separate  territorial 
existence  only  $138.07  was  paid  into  the  treasury,  while 
the  amount  of  the  arrears  of  taxes,  as  far  as  the  counties 
had  reported  assessment  rolls — and  a  number  had  wholly 
failed  to  do  so — was  $442.66.^  This  might  have  been 
attributable  in  part  to  the  peculiar  law  of  the  day,  which 
provided  not  that  the  revenue  from  the  counties  should  be 
based  upon  a  territorial  levy,  but  that  the  county  treasurer 
should  be  required  to  pay  over  to  the  territory  five  per  cent, 
of  the  taxes  levied  by  the  board  of  county  commissioners.' 
The  further  provision  that  this  sum  should  be  paid  out  of  the 
first  collection  probably  had  little  significance.  But  in  1841 
this  law  was  repealed,  and  it  was  provided  in  lieu  thereof 
that  one-fourth  of  a  mill  should  be  levied  for  territorial 
purposes.*  Still  the  arrears  continued.  In  some  cases 
counties  gave  not  the  slightest  heed  to  the  law,  and  financial 
ofiicers  and  Governors  alike  united  in  scoring  these  delin- 
quencies and  the  income  system  that  made  them  possible.' 
Several  steps  were  indeed  taken  to  remedy  this  defect,  but 
they  were  all  petty  half  measures — the  county  treasurer 
was  required  to  collect  the  tax  ®  or  county  clerk  to  transmit 

»  Gov.  Mess.,  C.J.,  1842-43, pp.  9,  10 ;  Ibid.,  C.  J.,  1843-44,  pp.  8-10. 

*  Auditor's  Report,  H,  J.,  1840-41,  p.  28.  'Z.,  1838-39,  Jan.  25,  1839. 

*  L.,  1840-41,  c.  90. 

^Auditor's  Report,  C.  J.,  1843-44,  pp.  241,  242;  Gov.  Mess.,  C.  J.,  1845-46, 
p.  18. 

•Z.,  1844,  c.  21.  Under  a  previous  law  the  tax  was  collected  by  a  county 
collector,  elected  annually.     L.,  1842-43,  Act  Feb.  13,  1843. 


1 64  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [  j g^ 

the  aggregate  valuation  of  the  county  to  the  State  Auditor/ 
etc., — and  all  fell  short  of  the  mark.  It  is  possible  that  some 
of  the  blame  for  the  failure  to  balance  income  and  expendi- 
ture is  to  be  attributed  to  the  pioneer  law-makers  themselves, 
for  we  find  numerous  recommendations  for  shorter  sessions, 
for  the  making  of  appropriations  "  more  specific,"  and  like 
remedies,  but  there  is  little  palpable  evidence  to  shatter  their 
now  long-established  reputation  for  careful  expenditure. 

Things  had  come  to  such  a  pass  in  1845  that  the  treasurer 
could  report  that  territorial  warrants  were  worth  but  fifty- 
cents  on  the  dollar,^  a  depreciation  that  was  scarcely  to  be 
found  in  any  county  of  the  territory,  which  though  it  could 
be  traced  in  part  to  the  creation  of  a  debt  of  $8,650,  for  the 
constitutional  convention  of  the  year  preceding,  was  a  sharp 
commentary  on  the  shortcomings  of  the  finances.  And 
when  the  State  was  admitted  into  the  Union  in  1846  it  came 
burdened  with  a  debt  of  about  $20,000,  not  a  large  sum, 
but  one  sufficient  to  inspire  many  misgivings  in  a  time  of 
pioneer  hardships  and  to  make  some  enter  dubiously  upon 
the  new  era  of  State  government.* 

There  had  been  those  who  had  opposed  the  assumption 
of  a  State  constitution  and  governmental  autonomy  largely 
because  of  reluctance  to  meet  the  burdens  which  the  new 
form  would  impose,*  and  this  attitude  had  been  successful 
in  delaying  for  a  time  the  adoption  of  a  State  Constitution," 
but  now  when  at  last  the  die  was  cast,  when  it  was  apparent 
that  the  old  debt  was  not  to  be  sloughed  off  upon  the  National 
government  and  that  new  exigencies  were  to  arise,  those 

iZ.,  1844,0.  29. 

»  Treasurer's  Report^  C.  J.,  1845-46,  p.  255. 
»  Gov.  Mess.,  H.  J.,  1846-47,  p.  14. 
*  Gffv.  Mess.,  C.  7".,  1845,  P    '4* 

•Benjamin  F.  Shambaugh,  History  of  the  Constitutions  of  Jbtva,  pp.  167 *t 
seg.,  260. 


165]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  ygj 

in  responsible  positions  began  to  turn  their  eyes  to  the 
ways  and  means  of  providing.  The  gubernatorial  message 
to  the  first  State  Legislature  breathed  the  spirit  of  vigorous 
inquiry  and  resolution  to  upbuild  a  sound  finance.  It  is 
one  of  the  very  few  messages  that  contains  anything  novel 
or  original  in  financial  recommendation.  The  Governor 
recommended  that  in  order  to  meet  the  costs  of  the  State 
government  without  at  the  same  time  too  greatly  increasing 
the  general  burden  a  reduction  be  made  in  the  costs  of  the 
county  and  township  by  introducing  greater  simplicity  in 
their  government,  by  combining  offices,  by  requiring  clerks, 
sheriffs  and  others  to  transact  the  county  business  without 
fees,  and  dispensing  with  the  per  diem  of  grand  jurors. 
He  also  recommended  a  tax  upon  suits  brought  in  the  dis- 
trict court  of  the  State  "  as  furnishing  a  legitimate  and 
reliable  source  of  revenue."  Of  the  general  property  tax 
he  made  no  criticism,  saying  that  he  believed  the  inequality 
and  lack  of  uniformity  complained  of  were  as  much  due  to 
the  selection  of  incompetent  and  improper  agents  to  execute 
the  laws  as  to  any  defect  in  the  system  itself.  The  Governor 
in  general  terms  called  for  the  application  of  a  wide  and 
searching  reform,  but  the  character  of  that  reform  he  left 
to  the  ingenuity  of  the  Legislature.^  He  gave  no  hint  as 
to  its  outline ;  probably  he  had  none  to  give. 

But  if  much  was  to  be  expected  from  the  new  order,  the 
disappointment  was  complete,  for  there  was  practically  no 
change  of  note  from  the  taxation  of  the  territorial  period. 
Property,  polls  and  licenses  continued  the  bases.  The  rate 
of  State  levy  was  naturally  increased.  It  was  made  two 
mills  on  the  dollar.  A  few  years  afterwards  it  was  increased 
to  three  mills,^  but  in  the  later  history  of  the  State  it  has 
not  tended  to  go  beyond  this.     Indeed,  it  has  been  much 

»  Gov.  Mess.,  H.  J.,  1846-47,  pp.  12-18. 
*Code,  185 1,  §454. 


1 66  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  r i ^g 

less  in  many  years.  ^  Assessment  was  to  be  by  the  county 
sheriff,  who  was  made  ex  officio  county  assessor.  But  this 
was  not  of  stable  significance.  In  1853  change  was  made 
to  township  assessors.^  In  1844  the  assessment  had  been 
by  township  or,  when  there  were  no  township,  by  precinct 
assessors.'  The  year  following  a  regular  county  assessor 
was  to  be  elected  for  the  purpose.*  And  now  in  1847  the 
duty  was  superimposed  upon  the  police  duties  of  a  police 
officer. 

In  the  matter  of  local  equalization  the  law  of  1847  showed 
at  least  a  dim  consciousness  of  the  desirability  of  local 
review.  But  it  was  as  yet  rather  a  remedy  for  the  aggrieved 
tax-payer  than  a  function  that  should  in  all  cases  be  per- 
formed by  the  local  government  of  its  own  motion.  It  was 
provided  merely  that  the  county  commissioners  should  ex- 
amine the  assessment  rolls  and  hear  and  decide  upon  appli- 
cations for  abatement. 

The  most  important  of  these  unimportant  variations  from 
the  territorial  system  was,  however,  the  transfer  of  the  tax 
on  peddlers  from  the  county  to  the  State.  Under  this  law 
there  was  to  be  collected  for  State  purposes  a  tax  of  twenty- 
five  dollars  on  every  hawker  or  peddler  of  goods,  wares 
and  merchandise  for  the  privilege  of  peddling  throughout 
the  State  for  one  year.  The  tax  was  uniform  for  all  such 
"  pedlars,"  except  the  peddler  of  clocks,  who  had  been  made 
the  special  prey  of  these  license  fees  from  the  first,  and  was 
now  charged  fifty  dollars  per  year,  something  less  than  he 
had  to  pay  under  previous  laws."*     This  departure  is  de- 

*  The  highest  rate  levied  from  1879  to  1898  inclusive,  was  2.9  mills.  In  the 
great  majority  of  cases  it  was  2  mills. 

'  Z.,  1852-53,  c.  69.  The  State  Auditor,  however,  strongly  recommended  change 
to  county  assessors  in  1856.     Auditor's  Report,  1856,  p.  161. 

»  Z.,  1843-44.  c.  21.  *Z.,  1845,  c-  5- 

»  Z.,  1846-47,  c.  100.     Subsequently  these  fees  were  increased  somewhat. 


167]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  1 67 

scribed  as  of  relative  importance,  not  because  it  meant  the 
shifting  of  a  large  fund  of  revenue  from  one  order  of  gov- 
ernment to  another,  for  the  product  of  the  tax  was  always 
insignificant,  but  because  it  is  the  first  definite  step  in  the 
segregation  of  State  and  local  revenues.  True  this  revenue 
had  been  left  to  the  counties  before,  but  the  facts  of  the 
territorial  status  and  the  insignificance  of  the  tax  forbid 
the  attachment  of  any  import  to  it.  This  feature  of  the 
law  of  1847  was  the  beginning  of  segregation,  an  almost 
unwitting  and  feeble  beginning,  one  to  which  the  subse- 
quent accomplishments  in  this  direction  owed  no  impetus, 
but  yet  it  is  worthy  of  attention  as  evidence  of  the  fact  that 
the  State  thus  early  was  not  necessarily  bound  by  any  devo- 
tion to  uniformity  of  system  for  both  State  and  local  gov- 
ernment. 

There  was  almost  no  financial  discussion  and  little  change 
from  now  on  until  the  Code  of  1851  became  law.  But  with 
the  Code  of  1851  well-nigh  revolutionary  changes  in  the 
organs  of  county  administration,  and  so  in  the  local  admin- 
istration of  the  income,  were  made.  There  were  also  sweep- 
ing alterations  in  the  taxing  system,  both  in  the  bases  of 
taxes  and  in  the  machinery  of  their  administration.  Pre- 
vious thereto  the  county  was  ruled  by  a  board  of  three 
county  commissioners ;  now  it  was  placed  under  a  single-man 
power,  the  county  judge  system.  Previously  there  had 
been  no  State  equalization,  now  a  State  board  of  equaliza- 
tion was  created.  Until  this  code  there  had  been  no  such 
thing  as  distinct  corporation  taxes.  The  word  corporation 
had  hardly  been  mentioned  in  the  revenue  laws,  and  when 
it  was  mentioned  it  was  by  way  of  recitation  and  not  of 
differentiation  that  it  appeared.^     But  now  the  shares  of 

1  This  is  subject  to  slight  qualification.  During  the  brief  period  when  Iowa  was 
subject  to  Michigan,  express  provision  was  made  for  the  taxation  of  stocks  in 
banks,  insurance  companies  and  other  corporations,  and  the  manner  of  assessment 


1 68  ADM  IN  IS  TRA  TION  OF  IOWA  \\6Z 

bank  stocks  were  expressly  made  subject  to  taxation/  In- 
surance companies  incorporated  outside  of  the  State,  doing- 
business  within  it,  were  to  be  assessed  one  per  cent,  for 
State  purposes  and  one  per  cent,  for  county  purposes  on 
the  premiums  received  in  the  separate  counties.^  And, 
more  important,  the  property  of  corporations  or  companies 
constructing  canals,  railroads  and  "  similar  improvements  " 
were  to  be  taxed  through  the  "  shares  of  the  stockholders."  * 
Up  to  this  time  the  Legislatures  had  gone  upon  the  hypo- 
thesis that  the  individual  holder  of  a  corporate  security 
would  list  the  same  as  he  did  his  other  personal  property, 
and  had  left  corporations  inferentially  to  the  more  than 
tender  mercies  of  the  general  property  law.  But  now  such 
overweening  confidence  was  done  away  with,  and  there  was 
express  provision  for  corporation  taxation. 

The  Code  of  185 1  is  justly  famous.  Seldom  has  a  body 
of  laws  introduced  so  many  and  such  extraordinary  innova- 
tions. Its  chief  title  to  fame  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  marked 
the  abandonment  of  the  common  law  and  the  adoption  of 
the  code  system,  and  in  the  fact  that  it  was  one  of  the  earliest 
of  the  American  codes.  But  among  its  many  remarkable 
provisions  the  revenue  measures  are  not  the  least.  And 
what  renders  them  the  more  curious  is  that  they  passed  the 
Legislature  and  were  launched  upon  their  course  without 
let  or  hindrance.  They  were  almost  undiscussed  by  the 
general  public,*  and  while  the  same  thing  may  be  said  of 

was  much  like  that  of  the  present  day.  See  Laws  of  the  Territory  of  Michigan^ 
arranged  and  passed  by  the  Fifth  Legislative  Council,  1833,  p.  88.  Affected  by 
Act  approved  Feb.  20,  1834,  Territorial  Laws  of  Michigan,  vol.  iii,  p.  1270. 

»  CWd?,  1851,  §456.  ^  Ibid.,    §464.  »//5za',  §462. 

*  The  Democratic  Enquirer,  of  Muscatine,  la.,  on  Jan.  18,  185 1,  reviewing  the 
proposals  of  the  new  code,  mentions  as  important  the  usury  laws,  the  license  ques- 
tion, the  individual  liability  clause  in  the  general  incorporation  act,  and  says ; 
«•  These  are  the  most  important  changes  proposed,"  thus  showing  how  little  signif- 
icance was  attached  to  the  new  revenue  measures. 


1 69]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  1 69 

about  all  the  provisions  of  the  code/  it  is  to  be  wondered  at 
most  in  taxation,  which  affects  so  intimately  the  interests 
and  the  passions  of  the  people.  But  this  was  in  general 
a  period  of  apathy  in  revenue  discussion.  Not  since  1846, 
when  the  retiring  territorial  Governor  had  expressed  his 
earnest  wish  that  a  system  might  be  devised  whereby  the 
rigors,  the  inequality,  of  the  revenue  laws  should  be  reduced, 
had  any  Governor  given  much  attention  to  the  subject. 
The  same  is  to  be  said,  though  not  with  equal  inclusiveness, 
of  the  general  financial  officers  ^  and,  as  it  would  appear, 
of  the  press  of  the  State.  It  is  not  surprising  in  the  lack 
of  discussion  that  when  nine  years  later  the  continuance 
of  the  county  judge  system  was  under  debate  there  should 
be  those  who  would  assert  that  the  people  in  the  adoption 
of  the  system,  as  in  other  features  of  the  code,  had  been 
imposed  upon.^  The  people  had  not  in  fact  been  imposed 
upon.  Nothing  had  been  done  by  stealth.  But  when  in 
the  operation  of  new  organs  and  new  laws  they  came  to 
realize  that  here  was  a  thing  they  had  never  discussed,  had 
never  expressed  an  opinion  of,  pro  or  con,  the  fact  that  they 
had  slept  while  the  law  was  born  made  it  seem  to  some  of 
them  that  they  had  perhaps  been  outwitted  and  wronged. 
But  the  measures  of  the  code  were  in  general  satisfactory. 
It  was  only  in  a  few  instances  that  they  provoked  rebellion. 

*  The  Iowa  City  correspondent  of  the  D  emocra  fie  Enquirer^  onDec.  21,  1850, 
reviewed  briefly  the  proposed  change  in  the  county  administration,  and  expressed 
himself  as  in  favor  of  it,  his  chief  reason  seeming  to  be  that,  as  he  thought,  it  pro- 
vided for  the  submission  of  all  important  questions  to  the  direct  vote  of  the  people 
of  the  county.  And  yet  the  papers  usually  passed  the  matter  over  without  more 
than  the  briefest  reference  to  the  fact  that  there  was  such  action.  And,  see  The 
Iowa  Star,  of  Des  Moines,  la.,  issue  of  Jan.  2,  185 1. 

'  Such  recommendations  as  they  had  made,  looked  more  to  the  perfection  of 
the  detail  of  the  administration  than  any  basic  reform.  Auditor's  Report,  H, 
y.,  1850-51,  p.  6. 

'  Iowa  City  Republican,  Feb.  29,  i860. 


1 70  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [ 1 70 

Both  in  the  school  administration  and  in  the  administra- 
tion of  charities  and  corrections  we  have  glanced  at  the 
county  judge,  and  in  either  place  we  might  have  discussed, 
the  office  at  some  length.  But  it  is  more  in  the  financial 
functions  that  the  importance  and  peculiarity  of  the  office 
is  evinced,  and  hence  our  slight  examination  may  be  made 
with  more  profit  here. 

Previous  to  the  Code  of  1851  the  county  had  been  admin- 
istered by  a  board  of  three  commissioners  chosen  at  large 
from  the  county,  the  commissioner  system  dating  from 
the  Wisconsin  act  of  December  20,  1837.^  Under  the 
Michigan  territorial  laws  the  supervisor  system  had  been 
in  operation,  that  is,  the  county  was  governed  by  a  board 
of  supervisors  consisting  of  one  elected  from  each  township.^ 
In  1834  the  territory  which  had  previously  constituted  but 
one  county  was  divided  at  the  lower  end  of  Rock  Island, 
by  a  line  running  therefrom  through  to  the  Missouri  River, 
into  a  northern  and  a  southern  half,  each  of  which  was  made 
a  county,  the  northern  being  named  Dubuque,  the  southern 
Demoine  [^ic].^  Each  of  these  counties  was  constituted 
a  single  township  for  purposes  of  local  government.  With 
the  passage  under  the  Wisconsin  government  a  still  further 
division  was  made.  Des  Moines  county  was  cut  up  into 
seven  counties,*  Dubuque  into  fourteen.**  Shortly  before  the 
division  of  Des  Moines  county  a  system  that  was  assimilated 
to  the  commissioner  system,  in  a  large  measure,  had  been 

"^  Laws  of  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  1836-38,  p.  138. 

^  Laws  of  the  Territory  of  Michigan,  vol.  ii,  p.  583,  Act  April  12,  1897  (^"<i 
see  vol.  ii,  p.  317,  Act  March  30,  1827),  abolishing  the  system  of  three  commis- 
sioners appointed  by  the  Governor,  as  created  by  Act  May  8,  1820;  Jbid.,  vol.  I, 
p.  661. 

^Engrossed  Laws  of  the  Territory  of  Michigan,  Act  Sept.  6,  1834. 

^Laws  of  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  1836-38,  p.  78,  Act  Dec.  7,  1836. 

*Ibid.,^.  132,  Act  Dec.  31,  1837. 


I^l]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  I7I 

formally  adopted/  This  was  further  confirmed  and  made 
specific,^  and  it  continued  from  now  on  till  1851,  but  not 
without  deviations  of  some  importance.  By  special  acts 
a  number  of  counties  were  empowered  to  district  them- 
selves and  provide  for  the  election  of  commissioners,  one 
from  each  district.^  In  1847,  indeed,  it  was  provided  that 
all  counties  in  the  State  might  be  divided  into  county  com- 
missioner districts  *  and  commissioners  be  elected  from  the 
districts,  but  this  did  not  mean  that  they  must  adopt  the 
system  of  local  representation.  It  was  merely  an  authori- 
zation, to  be  followed  or  not,  as  the  county  pleased. 

The  Code  of  1851  now  gave  the  county  judge  the  powers 
that  had  been  exercised  by  the  commissioners,  and,  more- 
over, the  powers  of  probate  judges.  From  the  beginning 
of  its  distinct  organization  the  territory  had  had  a  separate 
probate  judge  for  each  county.*^  This  may  be  accounted 
for  by  the  organic  law  itself,  which  apparently  contem- 
plated the  creation  of  probate  courts  that  should  be  distinct 
from  the  Supreme  Court,  district  courts  and  the  justices  of 
the  peace.  The  creation  of  the  office  of  county  judge  was 
not  a  displacement  of  the  office  of  probate  judge,  but  an 
extension  of  that  office.  The  commissioners,  rather,  were 
the  officers  dislodged. 

The  county  judge  had  almost  autocratic  powers.  At  no 
period  in  the  history  of  the  Territory  or  State,  not  even  under 
the  first  territorial  governorship,  when  the  Governor  had 
been  given  power  to  appoint  all  inferior  judicial  officers, 

»  Laws  of  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  1 836-1 838,  :p,  64,  Act  Dec.  6,  1836. 

«  Ibid.,  p.  138,  Act  Dec.  20,  1837.         »  Z.,  1839-40,  c.  8 ;  c.  41  ;  c.  50 ;  c.  85. 

«  Z.,  1846-48,  c.  72.  Indicative  of  the  shifting  of  local  organization  and  admin- 
istration are  such  acts  as  c.  107  of  the  laws  of  1848-49,  which  repealed  the  town- 
ship organization  of  Scott  county,  providing  the  township  boundaries  should 
thenceforth  be  merely  those  of  election  precincts. 

•Z.,  1838-39,  Act  Jan.  19;  Z.,  1846-47,' c.  109. 


1 72  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  f  1 72 

justices  of  the  peace,  sheriffs  and  clerks  of  courts,  and  veto 
absolutely  the  acts  of  the  Legislative  Assembly,  had  a  public 
officer,  within  the  possible  natural  limits  of  his  particular 
sphere,  been  given  such  wide  powers.  These  powers  were 
primarily  financial,  and  so  administrative.  In  the  second 
place  they  were  judicial.  Thirdly  they  were,  to  a  degree, 
legislative. 

His  administrative  powers  were  found  chiefly  in  the  pro- 
vision that  he  should  be  the  **  accounting  officer  and  general 
agent  of  the  county."  As  such  he  was  required  to  manage 
all  county  business,  have  the  care  and  custody  of  all  county 
property,  except  such  as  was  by  law  placed  in  the  custody 
of  another  officer,  audit  all  claims  for  money  against  the 
county  and  draw  and  seal  all  warrants  on  the  treasurer, 
audit  and  settle  accounts  of  the  treasurer  and  any  other 
collector  or  receiver  of  county  revenues  and  those  of  any 
person  entrusted  to  expend  any  money  of  the  county.  He 
must  keep  a  series  of  books  relating  to  the  various  branches 
of  his  office,  and,  in  particular,  was  required  to  keep  a  dis- 
tinct account  with  the  treasurer.  He  must  "  superintend 
the  fiscal  concerns  of  the  county  and  secure  their  manage- 
ment in  the  best  manner."  He  was  required  to  keep  an 
account  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  county,  and 
make  regular  statements  thereof.  And  he  was  given  the 
place  of  a  county  attorney  in  civil  affairs,  being  required 
to  institute  and  prosecute  civil  actions  brought  for  the  benefit 
of  the  county.^  Moreover,  the  county  judge  had  power 
to  establish,  change  and  discontinue  all  county  roads  and 
all  public  highways  not  established  by  the  Legislature,  to 
regulate  the  care  of  the  poor,^  to  change  the  boundaries  of 

1  Code,  185 1,  §  106. 

'  Ibid.,  §  129.  These  particular  powers,  with  some  others,  were  given  to  the 
"county  court"  rather  than  the  county  judge,  but  for  all  practical  purposes  the 
two  were  the  same,  and  it  is  needless  to  distinguish  them  here. 


173]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  1 73 

civil  townships/  to  grant  franchises  for  a  long  period. 
And  finally,  in  addition  to  the  above  and  many  miscellaneous 
duties  that  they  carried  with  them,  some  of  them  widely 
discretionary,  he  had  the  almost  inconceivable  power  to 
levy  taxes  and  cause  them  to  be  collected,  though  he  might 
not  of  course  exceed  the  legislative  limit. ^  It  will  be  ob- 
served how  conspicuous — almost  unlimited — were  his  finan- 
cial powers.  Here  was  local  centralization  in  the  admin- 
istrative machinery  of  the  finances  carried  to  an  unusual 
extreme. 

His  legislative  powers,  strictly  speaking,  were  almost 
entirely  those  of  initiation.  He  was  empowered  to  submit 
to  the  people  of  the  county  at  elections  the  question  whether 
money  should  be  borrowed  to  aid  in  the  erection  of  public 
buildings,  whether  stock  should  be  permitted  to  run  at  large, 
or  at  what  time  it  should  be  prohibited,  and  the  question  of 
any  other  local  or  police  regulation  not  inconsistent  with 
the  laws  of  the  State.  And  when  the  warrants  of  the  county 
were  at  a  depreciated  value  he  might  submit  the  question 
whether  a  tax  of  a  higher  rate  than  that  provided  by  law 
should  be  levied.^  While  there  were  thus  certain  questions 
that  he  should  submit  to  the  electors,  the  exact  time  and 
conditions  of  such  submission  were  not  prescribed.  More- 
over, there  was  a  certain  indefinite  body  of  local  or  public 
questions  that  he  might  submit  or  not,  as  he  pleased.  Thus 
his  legislative  discretion  was  wide. 

The  powers  thus  conferred  were  such  as,  if  placed  in  the 
hands  of  corrupt  men,  could  have  been  used  in  such  a  man- 
ner "  that  financial  ruin  and  bankruptcy  would  have  been 
the  inevitable  result."  *     They   were  such   that   any   one 

»  Code,  1851,  §  219.     «  Code,  1851,  §§454. 485, 1 152-1 154.     »  Code,  1851,  §  106. 

*  For  a  faTorable  appreciation  of  the  county  judge  system,  see  S.  A.  Moore, 
History  of  Davis  County,  Iowa.  The  author  of  this  pamphlet  had  been  county 
judge  of  this  county.  Writing  in  1876,  sixteen  years  after  the  system  had  been 
abolished,  he  still  favored  it. 


174  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [174 

with  the  slightest  knowledge  of  democratic  antipathy  to 
autocratic  power,  could  prophesy  with  ease  their  not  remote 
oversetting/  The  county  judge  was  to  rule  for  but  four 
years,  when  a  successor  might  be  chosen,  but  during  this 
period  he  was  little  less  than  a  potentate. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  decade,  in  fact,  discontent  began 
to  make  itself  felt.  Petitions  went  up  to  the  Legislature 
from  groups  of  citizens  in  many  counties,  some  declaring 
that  the  county  judge  was  a  tyrant,  an  autocrat,  or  the 
fearful  repository  of  unrighteous  authority.  Almost  none 
of  these  petitions  mentioned  specific  cases  of  corruption  or 
instances  of  unbridled  power,  but  they  were  substantially 
at  one  in  the  general  principles  of  their  complaint.  A  peti- 
tion from  Black  Hawk  county  in  1858  put  the  matter  for- 
cibly. It  said :  "  The  centralization  of  such  unlimited 
powers  in  the  hands  of  a  single  individual,  particularly  the 
power  of  levying  taxes  at  will,  without  the  expressed  or 
implied  consent  of  the  payers — of  binding  them,  as  their 
financial  agent,  in  contracts  of  which  they  are  ignorant  or 
do  not  approve — and  of  arbitrarily  expending  the  public 
money  as  his  personal  interest  or  caprice  may  direct — is 
a  policy  inconsistent  with  the  fundamental  principles  of 
republican  government,  at  all  times  dangerous  and  never 
expedient."  ^  Another  complained :  "  With  the  county 
funds  wholly  under  his  control,  coupled  with  the  power  to 
make  that  fund  as  large  almost  as  he  may  wish,  there  is  no 
balance  save  the  County  Judge's  own  sense  of  rectitude 
to  regulate  the  expenditure  of  the  county."     The  petitions 

*  Some  limitations  were  placed  upon  the  power  of  the  judge  previous  to  the 
abolition  of  the  system.     See  Z.,  1852-53,  c.  72. 

■  This,  with  other  petitions  in  the  matter,  is  to  be  found  in  Box  40-2235,  Vault  in 
the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State  of  Iowa.  Other  counties  from  which  petitions 
appear  are  Washington,  Jones,  Benton,  Monona,  Bremer,  Delaware,  Hamilton, 
Clayton,  Jasper,  Clinton  and  Jackson. 


175]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  j^j 

called  for  a  divorcement  of  the  administrative  power  from 
the  judicial  or  probate  duties,  the  former  to  be  conferred 
upon  a  board  of  supervisors  or  commissioners,  the  latter 
upon  the  county  judge  as  probate  judge  only. 

At  last,  after  some  years  of  public  discussion,  the  matter 
was  brought  to  issue  in  the  State  Legislature;  and  in  the 
session  of  i860  the  Senate  committee  on  county  and  town- 
ship organization  brought  in  a  majority  report  for  a  modi- 
fied supervisor  system,  and  the  discontinuance  of  the  county 
judge  as  administrative  head.  The  report  was  made  on 
February  13.  On  February  18  it  came  up  for  consideration 
and  a  spirited  debate  ensued,  a  minority  report  proposing 
a  county  judge  with  two  associates  chosen  from  different 
parts  of  the  county  having  been  framed  to  fellow  the  report 
of  the  majority.  The  report  of  the  majority  attacked  the 
county  judgeship  at  many  points,  but  primarily  and  chiefly 
on  the  score  of  its  shortcomings  as  a  financial  organ.  It 
arraigned  the  system  as  "  inconsistent  with  the  genius  of 
our  institutions,  tending,  as  it  does,  to  centralize  rather 
than  diffuse  political  power."  The  report  admitted  that  it 
possessed  an  efficiency  above  any  other,  but  asserted  that 
it  did  not  place  power  where  it  would  always  secure  the 
rights  of  the  people.  Of  the  county  judge  it  said,  "  secure 
in  his  own  councils,  he  may  prepare  the  way,  and  in  an 
unexpected  moment  strike  an  unexpected  blow  that  would 
paralyze  and  cripple  the  energies  for  years." 

It  argued  that  the  complex  authority  of  the  judge  tended 
to  unfit  him  for  his  probate  office.  For  he  is  chosen  "  for 
his  financial  ability  rather  than  any  attainment  that  would 
entitle  him  to  the  position  of  a  Judge  of  Probate."  ^  The 
report  of  the  minority  evidently  proposed  only  a  mild  com- 
promise.    The  writer  has  been  unable  to  discover  a  copy, 

1  The  Senate  Journal  does  not  contain  a  copy  of  this  report.     It  may  be  found 
in  the  columns  of  the  Iowa  City  Republican  for  February  22,  i860. 


1 76  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  Xy  75 

but  from  criticisms  in  the  debates  it  is  evident  that  the 
administrative  powers  of  the  judge  were  to  be  reduced  Httle 
or  not  at  all,  and  the  only  check  was  to  be  in  the  creation  of 
two  associates,  who  should  administer  the  county  with  him.* 
In  the  course  of  the  debate  particular  cases  were  pointed 
to  in  which  the  system  had  worked  unsatisfactorily,  a  thing 
that  had  been  almost  wanting  in  the  earlier  and  more  pop- 
ular complaints.  For  example,  it  was  asserted  that  in  sev- 
eral counties  ^  contracts  for  costly  public  buildings  had 
been  made  by  the  judges  in  defiance  of  the  will  of  the  people, 
or  that  the  general  interest  in  other  directions  had  been 
thwarted  in  equally  high-handed  fashion.  Public  opinion 
was  evidently  opposed  to  the  system,  but  it  was  abolished 
not  without  a  contest,  and  in  the  public  expression  upon 
the  supervisor  system  which  succeeded  it  there  were  in- 
stances where  a  return  to  the  county  judge  was  most 
vigorously  urged.® 

The  administrative  and  quasi-legislative  functions  were 
transferred  to  a  board  of  supervisors,  consisting  of  one  from 
each  civil  township,  except  in  the  case  of  townships  having 
a  population  exceeding  4,000  and  less  than  8,000,  which 
were  to  elect  two  supervisors,  and  for  each  4,000  inhabitants 
over  8,000  one  additional.*  Later  this  system  was  substan- 
tially modified. '^     The  present  system  is  substantially  the 

*See  Iowa  City  Republican,  February  29,  i860. 

•Woodbury,  Hamilton  and  Polk.  See  Iowa  City  Republican/issvit  as  above, 
containing  a  more  than  usually  extended  account  of  this  debate. 

•For  example,  a  petition  from  Decatur  county,  containing  422  signatures,  filed 
»ome  time  between  1868  and  1870.  The  reasons  given  were  that  the  supervisor 
system  had  cost  the  county  at  least  75  per  cent,  more  than  the  county  judge  sys- 
tem, that  it  was  far  more  inconvenient  in  its  practical  working,  too  slow  to  meet 
the  wants  of  paupers,  etc.  Sec  Box  40-2227,  in  Vaults  of  Secretary  of  State  of 
Iowa. 

*L.,  i860,  c,  46 ;  Revised  Statutes,  i860,  §303. 

»  Code,  1873,  §§  294.  299. 


177]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  ijy 

commissioner  system/  As  probate  judge  the  functions  of 
the  county  judge  continued  unabated  until  1868,  when  the 
circuit  court  was  estabhshed.  In  this  year  each  judicial 
district  was  divided  into  circuits,  each  of  which  had  its 
circuit  judge,  with  original  and  exclusive  jurisdiction  in 
probate  and  some  other  matters,  and  a  wide  concurrent 
jurisdiction  with  the  district  court  in  civil  actions  and  real 
property  proceedings.^  In  1886  the  circuit  court  was  in 
its  turn  abolished,  the  judicial  districts  reorganized  and 
the  powers  of  the  circuit  court,  among  them  the  probate, 
made  over  to  the  district  court. ^  Probate  powers  are  now 
exercised  by  judges  of  the  district  court,  and  in  large  meas- 
ure by  the  clerks  of  such  courts.  Thus  the  last  vestige  of 
the  county  judgeship  as  a  local  organ  has  disappeared, 
and  what  remained  of  the  office  has  been  merged  in  the 
courts,  whose  relations  bind  them  more  directly  to  the  State 
than  to  any  local  division. 

The  system  had  affected  the  financial  and  income  admin- 
istration only  for  the  time  being,  but  during  its  continuance 
it  had  moulded  local  financial  policy  as  little  else  could  have 
done.  Important  as  a  unique  chapter  in  the  financial  and 
administrative  history  of  the  State,  it  yet  had  even  less 
influence  upon  its  subsequent  development  than  did  the 
State  Board  of  Education  upon  the  development  of  public 
education,  and  so,  but  for  the  possibilities  of  government 
that  it  suggests,  might  be  considered  wholly  negligible  in 
any  present  discussion. 

At  this  point,  from  which  the  income  administration  may 
be  traced  along  several  distinct  lines,  we  shall  take  up  the 
sj>ecific  processes  through  which,  since  1850,  it  has  developed 
in  central  or  local  control,  examining  the  several  branches 
historically  and  analytically,  to  ascertain  the  degree  in  which 
they  have  affected  the  efficiency  of  government,  and  the 

*  Code,  1897,  §§4io»  41 1-  '^•»  ^^^^»  ^'  ^^'  ''^•»  ^^^^»  c-  '34- 


1 78  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  T j  7 g 

measure  of  their  influence  upon  the  social  welfare  of  the 
people. 

Ill    The  Processes  of  Centralization  and 
Decentralization 

i  the  segregation  of  sources  of  income 
The  study  of  segregation  or  the  separation  of  State  and 
local  sources  of  revenue  is  of  prime  importance  in  the  exami- 
nation of  the  administrative  features  of  any  financial  sys- 
tem. Segregation  tends  to  create  and  clearly  define  separate 
spheres  and  organs  for  State  and  for  local  administration. 
The  State  may  continue  to  use  the  local  agencies,  and  the 
locality  may  continue  to  use  those  of  the  State  for  a  time, 
though  this  is  less  usual.  But  the  administrative  machinery 
for  the  two  spheres  tends  to  separate  definitely  and  com- 
pletely when  once  the  sources  of  the  revenue  are  made  dis- 
tinct, a  process  that  conduces  to  a  great  simplification  of  the 
administrative  problem. 

The  place  of  the  peddlers'  tax  in  this  connection  has  been 
noted,  but  it  remained  for  the  Code  of  185 1  and  later  laws 
to  blaze  the  path  of  separation.  The  Code  of  1851  pro- 
vided that  foreign  insurance  companies  should  be  taxed 
on  their  premiums  for  State  and  county  purposes;^  after 
1868  the  tax  became  one  for  State  purposes  solely.^  But 
corporations  generally  were  to  be  assessed  upon  the  shares 
of  stock  in  the  hands  of  their  stockholders.  It  was  but 
natural  that  insurance  companies  should  receive  a  some- 
what different  treatment  from  other  corporations  thus  early, 
as  in  the  revenue  laws  of  the  country  generally  they  had 
been  among  the  first  to  receive  a  distinct  treatment.^ 

The  law  that  was  to  make  segregation  of  material  import- 

"^^Code,  1851,  §464-  '^^  ^868,  c.  138. 

*  Cf,  E.  R.  A.  Seligman,  Essays  in  Taxation,  pp.  141,  150. 


179]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  lyg 

ance,  however,  was  that  of  1862,  taxing  railroads  on  their 
gross  earnings/  At  first  they  were  taxed  at  the  flat  rate 
of  one  per  cent.  In  1870  the  rate  was  graduated,  running 
from  one  per  cent,  on  the  first  $3,000,  or  part  thereof,  per 
mile  to  three  per  cent,  on  receipts  over  $6,000  per  mile.^ 
At  first  a  half  was  given  to  the  State  and  a  half  to  the  coun- 
ties. Later  the  counties  fared  better,  being  allowed  four- 
fifths  of  the  proceeds,  while  the  State  was  to  be  content  with 
one-fifth.^  Nothing,  under  either  law,  was  to  be  given  to 
the  cities.  This  fact  was  to  wreck  the  system  and  bring 
about  a  return  to  the  general  property  tax  on  railroads. 
The  law  had  not  been  a  law  for  long  when  the  cities  began 
to  impugn  its  constitutionality.  Several  of  them  had  be- 
come important  points  of  railroad  traffic  with  large  railroad 
properties  situated  within  their  boundaries,  a  ready  revenue 
for  the  support  of  municipal  needs,  could  the  law  once  be 
converted  to  their  use.  The  Constitution  of  1857  had  pro- 
vided that  "  The  property  of  all  corporations  for  pecuniary 
profit  shall  be  subject  to  taxation  the  same  as  that  of  indi- 
viduals." *  Armed  with  this  constitutional  defense  the 
city  of  Davenport,  receiving  its  first  favorable  decision  from 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  in  1864,^  pressed  its  con- 
tentions persistently  until  1874,  when  the  section  was  defi- 
nitely construed  and  the  question  of  State  versus  local 
taxation  settled  in  favor  of  the  cities.®  The  cities  were  to 
have  a  claim  to  a  proportionate  share  of  the  revenue  from 
railroads  equally  with  counties  or  State.  By  the  narrowest 
margin  a  constitutional  obstacle  was  thus  placed  in  the  way 

iZ.,  1862,  c.  173.  ^  L.,  1870,0.   106.  ^  Idem. 

*  Cons.,  art.  viii,  §  2. 

6  Ciiy  of  Davenport  vs.  M.  <5r^  M.  R.  R.  Co..  i6  la,,  348. 

^City  of  Davenport  vs.  C,  R.  I.  &>  P.  R.  R.  Co.,  38  la.,  633.  The  important 
case  of  Dunlieth  ^  Dubtique  Bridge  Co.  vs.  City  of  Dubuque,  32  la.,  427,  de- 
cided in  187 1,  presented  the  genefal  question  squarely. 


1 80  ADMIN  IS  TEA  TION  OF  IOWA  \\%0 

of  segregation.  Davenport  in  its  first  case  had  received 
the  favorable  decision  of  the  inferior  court.  On  the  appeal 
the  supreme  bench  was  evenly  divided,  so  that  the  finding 
of  the  lower  court  was  af^rmed  only  by  default  of  majority. 
In  1872  railroads  were  made  taxable  upon  their  general 
property  for  State  and  local  purposes,  the  assessment  to 
be  made  by  the  Census  Board  or,  as  it  was  now  styled,  the 
Executive  Council.^ 

But  if  the  constitutional  prohibition  against  difference  in 
the  taxation  of  corporations  and  individuals  was  an  insuper- 
able obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  segregation  of  railroad  taxes, 
there  seemed  to  be  ever}^  reason  to  suppose  that  it  would 
be  none  the  less  a  check  to  segregation  of  other  corporation 
taxes,  and  that  localities  were  entitled  to  share  with  the 
State  in  their  proceeds.  Yet  the  principle  of  segregation 
was  continued  or  from  time  to  time  adopted  with  respect 
to  these  other  corporations.  There  was  nO'  change  of  prin- 
ciple in  the  taxation  of  foreign  insurance  companies,  which 
since  1868  had  been  taxable  on  their  premiums  for  State 
purposes  only.  And  in  1897  the  principle  was  extended 
to  Iowa  companies,  which  up  to  that  time  had  been  taxable 
like  individuals.  Under  the  Code  of  1897  Iowa  companies 
were  assessed  one  per  cent,  of  their  premiums,  less  losses 
paid,  for  State  purposes.^  Express  companies  were  made 
to  pay  solely  State  taxes  only  after  several  decades,  though 
as  early  as  1868  they  were  distinguished  for  a  few  years 
from  other  corporations,  being  assessed  in  each  locality 
where  there  was  an  office  or  agency  on  forty  per  cent,  of 
their  gross  earnings  for  State,  county  and  municipal  pur- 
poses. The  forty  per  cent,  was  listed  and  returned  by  the 
assessor  as  personal  property.^  Telegraph  companies  were 
taxed  in  the  same  way.  In  1870,  as  result  of  litigation, 
this  law  was  repealed,  the  taxes  under  it  remaining  unpaid 
1  z.,  1872,  c.  69.  '  Code,  1897,  §  1333-  '  L.,  1868,  c.  180. 


l8l]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  ig, 

remitted,  and  the  property  of  telegraph  and  express  com- 
panies was  to  be  listed  and  assessed  for  taxation  in  the  same 
manner  "  as  property  belonging  to  individuals."  ^  In  1896, 
following  the  recommendation  of  the  Revenue  Commission 
of  1892,  express  companies  were  made  taxable  for  State 
purposes.  They  were  to  pay  one  per  cent,  on  "  the  entire 
receipts  from  business  done  "  within  the  State. ^  Telegraph 
and  telephone  companies  meanwhile  had  been  made  subject 
to  exclusive  State  taxes.  In  1878  it  had  been  provided 
that  the  Executive  Council  should  ascertain  the  value  of 
the  property  of  telegraph  companies,^  taking  into  consider- 
ation a  large  variety  of  items,  such  as  gross  earnings,  operat- 
ing expenses,  stock,  franchises,  etc.,  and  on  the  value  so 
ascertained  the  council  was  to  determine  the  rate  of  the  tax, 
which  was  to  be  at  the  average  rate  of  taxes.  State,  county, 
municipal  and  local,  and  the  taxes  so  levied  were  to  be  in 
full  of  all  taxes  except  on  real  estate  and  special  assessments. 
This  exception  does  in  a  minor  degree  limit  the  exclusive- 
ness  of  the  State  tax."^  The  Executive  Council  was  re- 
quired to  deduct  from  the  assessment  valuation  as  made  by 
it  the  actual  cash  value  of  the  property  belonging  to  the 
company  assessed  for  taxation  in  local  taxing  districts  in 
the  State.  So  while  railroads  might  not  be  taxed  except 
for  the  support  of  all  divisions  of  the  government,  these 
important  corporations,  the  insurance,  express,  telegraph 
and  telephone,  were  made  tributary  to  the  State  treasury, 
and  seemingly  there  was  no  one  to  object.  This  was  so 
chiefly  because  the  values  were  not  so  large,  so  obvious,  as 

» Z.,  1870,  c.  100.  » z.,  1896,  c.  2. 

*Z,,  1878,  c.  59.  This  law  may  be  said  to  include  telephone  companies,  for 
before  the  taxation  of  telephone  companies  was  expressly  provided  for  it  was  held 
that  the  provision  taxing  telegraph  companies  was  applicable  to  them.  See  Iowa 
Union  Telephone  Co.  vs.  Board  of  E qua lization^b'j  la.,  250. 

*The  same  thing,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  is  to  be  said  of  substantially  all 
the  taxes  imposed  upon  corporations  for  the  *«  exclusive  benefit  of  the  State." 


1 82  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [ j 82 

were  those  of  the  railroads,  and  the  pecuniary  interest  was 
not  such  as  to  prompt  any  one  to  try  very  spiritedly  the 
legality  of  the  statute.  When  that  special  interest  appeared, 
when  the  knowledge  of  the  locality  was  fully  aroused  to  the 
fact  that  a  considerable  source  of  revenue  was  being  lost 
to  it,  it  might  be  expected  that  the  protest  of  the  cities  in 
the  railroad  gross  receipts  State  taxes,  which,  with  the 
Constitution  remaining  unaltered,  the  repetitions  of  stat- 
utes could  never  lay,  would  be  raised  anew. 

This  was  done  in  Polk  county  in  1899,  in  the  matter  of 
the  State  taxation  of  local  insurance  companies.  There  is 
perhaps  no  place  in  the  United  States  where,  in  a  small  way, 
the  insurance  business  thrives  as  it  does  in  Polk  county. 
The  home  offices  of  a  large  number  of  life  insurance  com- 
panies of  various  kinds  and  of  fire  insurance  companies 
are  to  be  found  in  Des  Moines,  the  county  seat.  Therefore 
when  in  1897  the  State  Legislature  made  local  companies 
subject  to  a  tax  on  premiums,  less  losses,  for  State  pur- 
poses only  and  provided  that  such  taxes  should  be  "  in  full 
for  all  taxes.  State  and  local,  against  such  corporations  or 
associations,  except  taxes  on  real  estate  and  special  assess- 
ments," the  conditions  were  made  that  would  provoke  a 
new  and  earnest  contest,  for,  as  stated,  such  corporations 
had  previously  been  taxed  like  ordinary  citizens,  and  from 
them  the  localities  had  derived  a  revenue.  Polk  county 
gave  no  heed  to  the  provisions  of  the  new  Code  of  1897, 
but  in  1899  went  forward  and  assessed  the  resident  insur- 
ance companies  on  the  basis  of  their  stock.  Quick  to  arrest 
this  action,  the  Hawkeye  Insurance  Company,  an  Iowa 
fire  insurance  company  with  head  offices  in  Des  Moines, 
brought  an  injunction.  Again  Article  VIII.,  Section  2, 
of  the  Constitution  was  revamped,  and  the  decisions  of  the 
railroad  cases  reaffirmed.^     The  county  was  entitled  to  tax 

1  Hawkeye  Ins.  Co.  vs.  French^  assessor ,  109  la.,  585. 


183]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  I  g  j 

as  well  as  the  State.  The  opinion  of  the  court  was  couched 
in  no  uncertain  language,  and  with  the  exclusive  State  taxes 
on  insurance  companies  there  now  went  down  the  allied 
taxes — those  on  express,  telegraph  and  telephone  companies. 

Thus  the  last  and  the  conclusive  blow  was  dealt  to  the 
segregation  of  State  and  local  sources  so  far  as  corpora- 
tions are  concerned.  The  spirit  of  the  State  Legislatures 
had  been  toward  separation  of  State  and  local  sources,  to 
a  large  extent,  from  1862  on.  And  there  is  ample  room  for 
the  opinion  that  the  members  of  the  constitutional  conven- 
tion when  framing  the  section  of  the  Constitution  that  has 
wrought  such  havoc  in  the  laws,  intended  no  such  inhibition 
of  segregation  as  has  resulted.  There  is  ground  here  for 
a  strong  argument  that  judicial  interpretation  has  defeated 
the  public  will  and  the  public  interest. 

From  a  condition  where  segregation  might  have  been 
almost  perfect,  a  condition  that  would  in  the  opinion  of 
the  Revenue  Commission  of  1892  have  meant  the  entire 
divorcement  of  State  and  local  taxes,  the  Supreme  Court 
has  brought  the  revenues  to  the  plane  of  almost  complete 
uniformity  of  revenue  for  State  and  locality. 

The  other  steps  in  segregation  need  be  but  briefly  noted 
here.  In  1896  the  collateral  inheritance  tax  law  was  passed, 
the  proceeds  from  which  go  entirely  to  the  State.  The  tax 
on  peddlers  was  transferred  to  the  counties  in  1897;  though 
a  new  tax,  that  on  itinerant  physicians,  was  reserved  to  the 
State.  These  taxes  and  the  various  miscellaneous  income 
from  State  offices,  State  lands,  etc.,  constitute  the  only 
exclusive  State  resource  at  the  present  time. 

An  examination  of  the  conditions  under  which  the  various 
laws  were  passed  will  not  as  a  rule  reveal  any  strong  agita- 
tion for  divorcement  of  State  and  local  income,  but  rather  a 
quiet  belief  that  such  divorcement  would  be  wise.  In  the 
earlier  history  of  these  taxes  the  inherent  difficulty  of  assess- 


1 84  ADMINIS TEA TION  OF  IOWA  \\^\ 

ing  corporations  locally  seems  more  than  anything  else  to 
have  been  the  cause  for  their  particular  treatment.  This 
was  largely  true  with  respect  to  the  insurance  taxes  in  185 1 
and  the  railroad  gross  receipts  taxes  in  1862.  In  the  case 
of  the  latter,  however,  there  grew  up  a  conviction  on  the 
part  of  some  prominent  in  public  affairs  that  complete 
segregation  would  be  a  wise  financial  policy.  In  1872  the 
Governor  commented  upon  the  fact  that  excepting  the  State, 
the  counties  alone  through  which  the  railroads  ran  received 
the  benefits  of  taxes  from  them,  and  recommended  that 
the  tax  be  made  entirely  a  State  tax.  His  main  ground 
was  that  the  counties  receiving  the  taxes  were  given  a  double 
benefit — the  presence  of  the  railroads  and  a  revenue  from 
them — while  other  portions  of  the  State  received  nothing. 
For  the  sake  of  equity  the  change  should  be  made.^  In 
that  year,  however,  the  general  property  and  general  source 
basis  was  adopted. 

The  remaining  steps  toward  separation  were  made  under 
a  more  definite  conviction  of  the  desirability  of  the  policy. 
This  is  shown  by  the  telegraph  tax  of  1878.  Governor 
Newbold  had  advised  some  measures  of  separation  in  his 
message  of  that  year.  Furthermore  the  State  express  and 
insurance  company  taxes  of  1896  and  1897  were  made 
exclusive  commonwealth  taxes  in  compliance  with  the 
recommendation  of  the  Revenue  Commission.  The  inherit- 
ance tax,  on  the  other  hand,  was  made  a  State  tax,  and  not 
a  county  tax,  as  the  commission  had  recommended. 

We  shall  glance  now  at  the  material  effects  of  the 
various  steps  in  segregation.  And  first  of  the  peddlers' 
tax  or  license  fee.  This  tax  was  from  the  first  little 
regarded  by  the  local  or  central  administration.  We  find 
in  the  early  reports  many  instances  where  no  attention 
whatever  was  given  to  it.     Frequent  lapses  on  the  part  of 

»  G<yv,  Mess.,  1872,  p.  ,7. 


1 8 5]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  I  g  5 

the  auditors'  reports  suddenly  followed  by  a  sharp  criticism 
of  the  local  authorities  and  a  statement  that  the  tax  would 
be  quadrupled  if  they  performed  their  duties  were  charac- 
teristic. In  the  first  year  the  revenue  from  this  source  was 
$222.05  frcm  seven  counties.^  In  1850  it  had  increased 
to  $836.58,  and  the  Auditor  complained  that  it  would  be 
four- fold  what  it  was  if  those  charged  with  enforcing  the 
law  had  done  so.^  But  there  was  little  attempt  to  make 
these  local  officers  collect  the  tax,  and  in  1863  the  Auditor 
could  report  that  the  peddlers'  licenses  had  added  to  the 
revenue  only  $779-79/  and  for  the  whole  fourteen  years 
from  1857  to  1 87 1  but  $3,787.33  was  derived  from  this 
source.*  The  receipts  improved  somewhat  in  the  following 
years.  For  the  biennial  period  ending  in  1875  they  were 
$1,164.58,^  but  down  to  1897,  when  they  were  transferred 
to  the  counties,  they  were  given  very  little  attention  and 
were  insignificant. 

When  in  1897  the  State  gave  up'  the  peddlers'  tax,  but 
undertook  to  tax  itinerant  physicians,  it  was  expected  that 
the  increase  from  this  tax  would  not  be  entirely  microscopic. 
But  it  has  proved  so.  The  license  must  be  obtained  from 
the  State  Board  of  Medical  Examiners,  at  a  cost  of  $250 
per  year.  From  October  27,  1897,  to  the  middle  of  1899  the 
income  of  the  tax  was  but  $2,750.^  After  that  it  improved 
somewhat.  From  November  14,  1899,  to  June  19,  1901, 
it  was  $3,000."^  It  is  to  be  seen  thus  that  the  return  from 
this  class  of  taxes  or  fees  cuts  little  figure  one  way  or  the 
other. 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  make  a  computation  of  the  effect 
of  the  adoption  and  abandonment  of  exclusive  State  corpo- 
ration taxes.     The  chief  reason  is  that  such  taxes  have 

1  Auditor's  Report,  S.  J.,  1848-49,  p.  298.         '  Ibid.,  H.  J.,  1850-5 1,  p.  9. 
»  Auditor's  Report,  1863,  p.  16.         *  Ibid.,  1871,  p.  62.  ^Ibid.,  1875,  P-  9- 

<  Treasurer's  Report,  1899,  p.  96.  '  Ibid.,  1901,  p.  127. 


1 86  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [ 1 86 

not  usually  been  large,  and  often  they  have  continued  over 
a  period  so  brief  that  comparative  results  would  demon- 
strate little.  The  gross  receipts  taxes  on  railroads  from 
1862  to  1872  would  illustrate  little,  as  they  went  in  large 
part  to  the  counties.  The  taxes  on  telegraph  and  telephone 
companies,  with  the  exception  of  the  taxes  on  insurance 
companies,  afford  the  instance  of  longest  endurance  of  a 
State  corporation  tax.  Beginning  in  1878  they  continued 
to  1900,  but  the  income  from  them  was  never  large.  The 
heaviest  receipts  from  these  companies  were  for  the  biennial 
period  from  1897  to  1899,  when  they  totaled,  from  the 
telegraph  companies  $40,213.89,  and  from  the  telephone 
companies  $18,734.88.  Usually  the  income  was  in  each 
case  $10,000  below  these  sums.  In  this  same  period  ex- 
press companies  paid  their  first  exclusive  State  taxes,  a  sum 
of  $12,179.71.  This,  together  with  the  telephone  and  tele- 
graph taxes,  equaled  $71,128.48  in  a  total  income  to  the 
State  of  $5,079,403.29.  It  is  apparent  at  once  that  little 
can  be  predicated  upon  so  slight  a  proportionate  revenue, 
and  that  its  discontinuance,  with  the  growth  in  revenue 
from  other  specific  sources,  and  the  erratic  changes  to  which 
State  budgets  are  liable,  can  hardly  be  reduced  to  causal 
relations.  Nor  in  respect  of  the  State  insurance  taxes  can 
more  be  said  than  that  they  have  increased  with  great  regu- 
larity, for  they  still  remain.  The  law  of  1900  hardly  did 
more  than  remove  the  interdiction  of  local  taxes  on  domestic 
companies.  It  continued  the  State  taxes  on  non-Iowa  com- 
panies, and  provided  that  those  organized  in  Iowa  should, 
while  subject  to  local  assessment  on  capital  stock,  pay  the 
State  one  per  cent,  on  premiums,  less  losses,  matured  endow- 
ments, dividends  and  legal  increase  in  reserve.^  The  State 
revenue  from  this  source  for  the  period   1881-1883  was 

»Z.,  1900,  c.  43. 


18/]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  1 37 

$109,087.43.  It  increased  by  steady  stages  until  in  1899- 
1901  it  amounted  to  $382,165.22. 

The  receipts  from  the  inheritance  tax  form  more  of  a 
basis  for  estimate.  For  the  period  ending  June  30,  1899, 
they  amounted  to  $52,799.52.  For  that  ending  June  30, 
1901,  they  amounted  to  $196,464.54,  and  formed  an  im- 
portant item  in  the  State's  revenue.^ 

But  this  much  can  be  affirmed  of  the  exclusive  State 
taxes  in  general :  they  have  in  the  past  tended  to  form 
an  ever  increasing  proportion  of  the  State's  revenue,  and 
this  means  that  the  relative  part  gathered  from  the  counties 
has  tended  ever  to  decrease.  In  1899  it  was  estimated  that 
during  the  biennial  period  then  just  closed  but  62  per  cent, 
of  the  total  State  revenue  was  raised  by  direct  taxes  on  the 
individual.  The  remaining  38  per  cent,  came  from  fees, 
taxation  of  corporations,  payments  by  the  counties  for  the 
maintenance  of  their  insane,  and  other  miscellaneous 
sources.^  And  this  further  fact  may  be  averred  of  any 
results  here  achieved,  that  whenever  the  taxes  have  been 
separated  much  has  been  accomplished  to  clear  up  the  ob- 
scurity of  the  financial  machinery,  to  make  more  certain 
and  confident  the  knowledge  of  who  or  what  pays  the  taxes. 
Such  results  mean  the  searching  out  and  the  removal  of 
the  irregularities  of  the  revenue.  The  repudiation  or  de- 
struction of  segregation  means  of  course  just  the  opposite. 

2     STATE  ASSESSMENT 

In  the  history  of  taxation  in  Iowa  the  discussion  of  State 
assessment  follows  naturally  upon  an  examination  of  the 
separation  of  sources  of  income.  For  when  segregation  has 
failed,  recourse  has  been  had  immediately  to  State  assess- 
ment in  several  important  instances,  as  though  no  jot  of  the 

>  Treasurer's  Report,  1 901,  p.  9.  '  Auditor's  Report,  1899,  p.  vi. 


1 8 8  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  r j g g 

central  control  once  given  were  to  be  sacrificed  except  under 
compulsion.  This  is  a  most  important  fact  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  income  administration. 

But  State  assessment  does  in  fact  begin  independently 
of  the  question  of  separation  of  taxes.  Its  beginning  is 
rather  anomalous.  In  1858  an  act  was  passed  authorizing 
general  banking  in  the  State.  Banks  and  corporations  had 
been  under  the  ban  of  the  Constitution  of  1846,  and  one  of 
the  chief  reasons  for  the  constitutional  convention  of  1857 
was  to  bring  about  the  removal  of  this  restriction.*  This 
act  of  1858  provided  for  State  Bank  Commissioners,  to  be 
elected  by  the  Legislature.  They  were  authorized  to  ex- 
amine the  banks  of  the  State,  and,  among  other  things,  to 
ascertain  the  value  of  the  property  of  the  banks  for  purposes 
of  taxation.^  This  system  continued  for  only  a  few  years, 
until  the  abolition  of  State  banking. 

The  next  step  in  State  assessment  is  to  be  found  in  the 
railroads  gross  receipts  tax  of  1862.  Under  this  law  the 
gross  receipts  were  to  be  reported  to  the  State  Treasurer, 
and  the  payment  of  the  tax  should  be  to  him.  While  report 
to  and  review  by  the  State  Treasurer  is  not  assessment  as 
that  term  is  understood  in  property  taxation,  still  it  is  as 
near  an  approximation  to  assessment  as  the  peculiar  char- 
acter of  a  gross  receipts  tax  permits.  When  in  1872  the 
gross  receipts  tax  was  done  away  with,  and  the  tax  on 
property  valuation ,  substituted,  the  State  assessment  was 
maintained.  The  law  provided  that  the  value  of  the  prop- 
erty should  be  ascertained  by  the  Executive  Council  and 
apportioned  among  the  counties  and  cities  according  to  their 
single-track  mileage.^  From  the  first  the  Executive  Council 
has  been  allowed  a  considerable  leeway  in  the  choice  of  a 
standard  or  measure  for  its  assessment,  so  that  centraliza- 

»  Shambaugh,  op.  cit.^  pp.  219  et  seq.^  302,  329  et  seq.         «  Z.,  1858,  c.  1 14. 
'Z.,  1872,  c.  69.  J 


1 89]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  1 89 

tion  in  this  point  is  no  beggarly  thing,  but  is  fraught  with 
surpassing  importance.  The  law  provided  that  the  assess- 
ment should  be  made  upon  the  true  cash  value,  and  stated 
further  that  gross  receipts  should  be  considered  together 
with  "  any  and  all  other  matters  necessary  to  enable  "  the 
board  to  make  a  just  and  equitable  assessment.  This  pro- 
vision has  remained  practically  unaltered  until  the  present. 
It  has  made  the  method  of  assessment  subject  entirely  to 
the  will  of  the  Executive  Council,  and,  especially  of  late 
years,  has  provoked  the  keenest  controversy  as  to  the  proper 
basis  for  railroad  taxation.  Illustrative  of  this  was  the 
legislative  session  of  1902,  the  interest  of  which  was  divided 
chiefly  betv/een  a  bill  for  a  more  definite  basis  for  the  taxa- 
tion of  railroads  ^  and  one  other,  which  also  concerned 
railroads.  And  it  is  quite  generally  understood  that  the 
reason  why  the  former  bill  was  defeated  was  that  it  threat- 
ened the  discretionary  authority  and  somewhat  secret  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Executive  Council.  The  bill  undertook  to 
define  what  should  constitute  operating  expenses,,  gross 
earnings  and  net  earnings,  and  moreover  required  that  the 
Executive  Council  should  publish  their  votes  and  proceed- 
ings and  explain  their  motives  for  varying  from  the  market 
quotations  of  securities  in  assessing  the  roads.  There  is 
no  other  branch  of  the  government  that  at  any  time  awakens 
such  general  and  acute  interest  as  does  the  Executive  Council 
during  the  week  or  two  when  it  is  making  the  railroad 
assessment. 

In  1875  ^"^  agitation  began  for  the  State  assessment  of 
telegraph,  express,  "  Pullman  "  car  and  fast  freight  com- 
panies.^    This  was  strongly  advised  by  the  State  Auditor 

1  Senate  File,  No.  362,  1902. 

2  For  an  interesting  recommendation  that  might  be  interpreted  as  looking  toward 
state  and  local  centralization  in  assessment,  see  Gov.  Mess.,  1870,  pp.  41,  52. 


1 90  ADMINISTRA TIOIV  OF  IOWA  r j qq 

in  that  year/  The  Governors  in  1876  ^  and  in  1(878  ^ 
joined  in  the  recommendation,  and  in  1878  the  law  was 
passed  providing  for  State  taxation  of  telegraph  companies, 
the  value  of  the  property  to  be  ascertained  by  the  Executive 
Council.  Telephone  companies  were  subsequently  included. 
In  1878,  along  with  telegraph  companies,  "  Pullman  "  cars 
were  made  assessable  by  the  council/  The  value  was  not 
to  be  taxed  to  the  owners  of  the  cars,  but  to  the  companies 
over  whose  lines  they  were  operated,  which  companies  were 
left  to  their  recourse  against  th^  owners.  Fast  freight  lines 
were  not  subjected  to  these  provisions  until  1902.^  In- 
deed, there  had  never  been  a  law  for  their  taxation  up  to 
that  time. 

From  1880  to  1892  questions  of  equalization  and  assess- 
ment were  discussed  more  than  at  any  other  time  in  the 
history  of  the  State,  but  there  was  no  outcome  of  substantial 
modification.  The  chief  fruit  was  the  Revenue  Commis- 
sion of  1892.  When  in  1896  and  1897  gross  receipts  of 
express  companies  and  taxes  on  the  premiums  of  insurance 
companies,  foreign  and  local,  were  made  payable  to  the 
State,  the  effect  was  of  course  to  place  the  ascertainment,  or 
at  least  the  review,  of  the  basis  of  the  computation,  and  so 
the  quasi-assessment,  with  the  State.  But  the  next  great 
advancement  was  made  in  1900,  when  express  companies, 
telegraph  and  telephone  companies  were  made  subject  to 
assessment  for  both  State  and  local  purposes  on  property 
valuation  by  the  State  board  of  review.  This  was  the 
second  signal  instance  where,  when  segregation  had  failed, 
State  assessment  stepped  into  the  breach  to  preserve  the 
central  control.     These  values  are  ascertained  by  the  Execu- 

^  Auditor's  Report,  1875,  p.  7  ;   1877,  p.  8. 

»  Gov.  Mess.,  1876,  p.  4.  ^Ibid.,  1878,  p.  6. 

*  Z.,  1878,  c.  1 14.  ^  L',  1902,  c.  62- 


1 9 1  ]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  I  g  j 

tive  Council  and  apportioned  to  the  localities  on  a  mileage 
basis. 

The  advantages  of  State  assessment  are  obvious.^  It  is 
unembarrassed  by  the  inequalities  of  local  assessment  which 
constitute  so  great  a  drag  upon  almost  all  the  ordinary  prop- 
erty taxes,  and,  rightly  conducted,  it  provides  a  machinery 
much  better  fitted  than  is  the  local  to  ascertain  with  accuracy 
the  values  to  be  taxed.  In  those  public  service  corporations 
whose  operations  are  not  confined  to  a  locality.  State  assess- 
ment has  in  the  last  score  of  years  been  recognized  through- 
out a  great  part  of  the  United  States  as  the  indispensable 
prerequisite  of  just  and  adequate  taxation.  Indeed,  in  the 
taxation  of  railroads  while  a  consensus  as  to  the  proper 
basis  of  taxation  has  hardly  been  reached,  opinion  is  prac- 
tically unanimous  that  when  that  basis  is  the  general  prop- 
erty the  assessment  must  be  by  the  State.  Iowa  therefore 
in  this  respect  has  done  no  more  than  keep  step  with  the 
progress  of  the  day. 

3     STATE  EQUALIZATION 

From  1850  to  the  present  time  the  equalization  of  assess- 
ments has  been  discussed  and  various  measures  have  been 
taken,  though  none  very  drastic,  to  improve  it.  But  the 
problem  has  always  remained  a  problem.  At  no  time  has  it 
been  believed  that  a  solution  was  reached.^  Improvements 
have  been  wrought;  the  more  crying  inequalities  of  the 
taxes  have  often  been  leveled.  But  disparities  have  re- 
mained, claims  of  under-  and  over-assessment  have  con- 
tinued, and  the  remedy  that  shall  cure  these  ills  still  remains 
for  the  future. 

There  are  three  laws  that  stand  out  above  all  others  in 

*  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  state  assessment  of  railroads  was  favored  and 
urged  by  the  railroads  themselves,  while  the  cities  interested  opposed  it. 
2  See  Auditor's  Report^  1893,  p.  7. 


1 92  ADMINISTRA TIGN  OF  IOWA  r j 92 

the  development  of  equalization  in  Iowa.  The  first  is  found 
in  the  sections  of  the  Code  of  1851,  which  made  the  first, 
though  an  abortive,  provision  for  State  equalization.  This 
law  provided  simply  for  the  equalization  of  real  property 
values  between  counties,  the  equalization  to  be  made  by  the 
Census  Board.  In  1853  specific  provision  was  made  for 
county  equalization.^  In  1857  the  second  important  law 
was  enacted.  It  succeeded  in  putting  fresh  life  into  the 
anaemic  system  that  the  Code  of  1851  had  created.  It  pro- 
vided only  for  the  equalization  of  real  property  values,  but 
introduced  an  extension  in  that  it  specifically  required  equali- 
zation between  towns  as  well  as  counties.  The  third  prin- 
cipal law  is  found  in  the  Code  of  1897,  by  which  the  State 
board  was  required  to  equalize  not  only  real  property  values, 
but  also  personalty.  And  this  law  omitted  the  provision 
for  equalization  between  towns. 

It  is  not  entirely  apparent  why  the  law  of  1851,  providing 
for  State  equalization,  was  not  put  intO'  execution,  but  that 
it  was  not  is  measurably  certain.^  For  one  thing  the  Census 
Board  was  a  new  body.  Its  duties  were  various,  and  it 
was  enough  of  a  strain  to  bring  into  play  those  functions 

iZ.,  1852-53,  c.  69. 

'The  evidence  upon  which  this  statement  is  based  is  as  follows:  (i)  The  fact 
that  the  record  book  of  the  Census  Board,  which  was  opened  in  185 1,  on  the  crea- 
tion of  that  body,  contains  no  mention  of  equalization;  (2)  the  fact  that  the  first 
record  book  of  state  equalization  dates  from  1857  ;  this  book  is  marked  "A,"  and 
search  through  the  vaults  of  the  Auditor  of  the  State  failed  to  reveal  anything 
anterior  to  it ;  (3)  the  lact  that  the  reports  of  the  Auditor  of  State  or  Treasurer 
of  Stale  contain  no  reference  to  state  equalization  previous  to  1858;  (4)  the  fact 
that  following  the  act  of  1857,  which  made  more  definite  provision  for  state  equal- 
ization, it  was  necessary  to  pass  several  curative  and  legalizing  statutes  to  bring 
the  system  into  operation,  statutes  which  indicate  that  state  and  local  equalization 
was  a  new  thing,  one  not  well  understood  and  so  but  slow  to  become  operative. 
See  Z.,  1858,  c.  90  ;  c.  Ill  ;  (5)  the  comments,  or  lack  of  them,  upon  the  reve- 
nue system,  in  the  newspapers  of  the  day.  See  Dubuque  Express  and  Herald, 
January  16,  1856. 


193]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  1^2 

with  which  in  its  general  character  it  was  perhaps  more 
intimately  concerned  than  it  was  with  equalization.  More- 
over, the  assessments  had  not  been  locally  equalized  to  any 
appreciable  degree,  so  that  central  equalization  would  have 
been  a  somewhat  artificial  proceeding. 

At  this  place  we  should  also  comment  upon  a  significant 
omission  from  the  provisions  of  the  law  of  1857,  made  in 
i860.  The  revenue  law  of  the  latter  year,  while  continuing 
the  provision  that  the  State  board  should  equalize  between 
towns,  did  not  contain  the  detailed  specifications  of  the  act 
of  1857  as  to  the  manner  in  which  this  should  be  done. 
This  was  perhaps  an  augury  of  the  entire  abandonment  of 
any  attempt  to  distinguish  the  value  of  realty  in  towns  from 
its  value  in  the  county  generally,  which  was  tO'  come  in  the 
course  of  time. 

But  the  chief  attempt  to  reform  the  equalization  laws  is 
to  be  found  not  in  any  act  of  the  Legislature,  but  in  the 
report  of  the  Revenue  Commission  of  1892.  This  com- 
mission proposed  a  striking  change  in  the  State  Board  of 
Equalization,  viz.,  a  partial  reorganization  by  enlargement, 
through  the  addition  of  eleven  persons,  one  from  each  con- 
gressional district,  whose  knowledge  of  values  in  their  sev- 
eral districts  would,  it  was  believed,  enable  the  board  to 
approach  more  closely  to  accuracy  in  the  adjustment  of  the 
burdens  of  taxation.  But  the  device  of  the  commission 
went  to  the  base  as  well  as  to  the  head  of  the  structure. 
It  thought  that  change  was  needed  on  every  hand.  And  so 
it  recommended  important  alterations  in  the  county  equali- 
zation. It  would  have  the  equalization  in  the  first  instance 
made  by  the  assessors  and  their  associates  instead  of  by  the 
township  trustees  and  town  or  city  councils,  who  since 
1870  ^  had  exercised  this  power.     It  recommended  that  the 

*  Z.,  1870,  c.  89.  If  the  suggestion  had  been  followed  it  would  have  meant 
a  reversion  to  the  earlier  system  of  the  state. 


1 94  ADM  INI S  TRA  TION  OF  10 IV A  V  j  q^ 

county  board  be  left  as  it  was,  that  is,  a  board  made  up  of 
the  supervisors,  but  would  require  the  members  of  the 
local  boards  to  attend  its  meetings  for  the  purpose  of  afford- 
ing the  county  board  information  in  the  performance  of 
its  duties/  Moreover,  it  recommended  that  real  property 
should  be  assessed  only  every  fifth  year  instead  of  every 
second  year,  as  it  had  been,  additional  assessors  to  be 
appointed  to  assist  in  the  real  property  assessment,  and, 
during  the  years  when  such  assessment  was  not  made,  to 
assist  in  the  equalization.  These  recommendations  failed 
of  enactment,  but  they  are  more  than  a  patch-work,  and 
deserve  study  in  any  attempt  to  better  the  methods  of  assess- 
ment and  equalization. 

Study  of  the  workings  of  the  State  boards  of  equaliza- 
tion from  the  beginning  of  their  activities  to  the  present 
time  prompts  a  three- fold  criticism,  a  criticism*  of  the  equali- 
zation of  town  realty  values,  of  the  equalization  of  personalty 
values,  and,  in  general,  of  the  success,  or  lack  of  it,  with 
which  they  have  adjusted  gross  values  as  between  counties. 

The  cases  in  which  the  State  board  of  equalization  has 
equalized  the  values  of  urban  realty  within  a  county  on  a 
different  basis,  that  is,  at  a  different  rate,  from  the  farm 
values  of  the  county  are,  according  to  the  records  of  the 
proceedings  of  that  board,  so  infrequent  that  they  might 
be  counted  almost  upon  the  fingers  of  one  hand. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  board,  in  1857,  there  was  no 
attempt  at  any  equalization  either  of  town  or  county  values." 
In  1858  the  board,  having  considered  the  question  of  equal- 
izing town  property,  decided  that  the  amounts  reported 
from  the  counties  should  remain  unchanged,  the  reason 
given  being  that  the  data  were  insufficient  to  justify  an 

'^  Report  of  Revenue  Commission^  pp.  12,  13. 

^  Record  of  the  State  Board  of  Equalization,  Book  A,  p.  4. 


195]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  ige 

alteration/  But  as  soon  as  the  data  were  forthcoming 
the  columns  of  the  reports  began  to  show  that  town  lots 
were  included  in  the  general  equalization  of  the  county,  that 
is,  the  per  cent,  of  decrease  or  increase  was  made  to  apply- 
both  to  town  and  county  values.  This  is  apparent  from 
1861/  and  is  the  almost  uninterrupted  practice  from  then 
till  1897,  when,  the  Code  having  omitted  any  provision 
for  the  equalization  of  town  values,  their  amount  was  left 
as  reported  by  the  counties. 

It  is  evident  thus  that  the  equalization  was  in  fact  no 
more  than  a  general  county  equalization.  The  law  was 
complied  with  by  including  the  town  values  in  the  flat 
change  and  by  printing  these  values  as  reported  and  as 
equalized  in  columns  in  part  distinct  from  those  containing 
the  county  values.  Thus  a  formal  but  no  material  differ- 
ence was  established.  From  this  general  practice  there 
were  several  isolated  departures.  In  1869  the  board  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  in  some  instances  assessments  as 
between  county  and  city  property  were  very  unequal  and 
unjust,  city  property  being  valued  at  a  high  rate  and 
farm  lands  at  a  very  low  rate.  But  they  expressed  them- 
selves as  uncertain  of  their  power  to  change  the  value  of 
the  city  or  county  property  without  changing  both.^  At 
the  meeting  following,  however,  they  had  become  con- 
vinced of  their  power,  and  at  that  meeting,  and  in  1871, 
in  several  cases  they  increased  county  values  without  in- 
creasing those  of  a  city  within  the  county,*   or,   leaving 

"^  Record  of  the  State  Board  of  EqualizatioHy  Book  A,  p.  Ii. 

»  Idid.,  p.  28  et  seq.  '  Ibid.,  p.  7 1. 

*In  1869,  while  the  values  in  Lee  county  were  increased  10  per  cent.,  the 
values  in  Keokuk,  the  county  seat,  were  unchanged.  Record  of  the  State  Board 
of  Equalization,  Book  A,  p.  66.  In  Clinton  county,  town  lots  in  187 1  were  in 
general  exempted  from  the  increase  of  25  per  cent.,  to  which  county  values  were 
subjected.     Ibid.^  p.  83. 


196  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  rjog 

county  values  as  reported,  they  decreased  those  of  the  city/ 
These  exceptions  are  so  infrequent  that  they  are  startHng 
when  they  do  occur,  and  leave  one  questioning-  whether 
they  were  not  the  fruit  of  some  abnormal  influence.  And 
soon  it  appears  that  the  board  beg-an  to  recur  to  its  old 
doubts.  Whether  its  action  had  been  impeached  or  extra- 
neous influences  had  bidden  it  desist  is  not  apparent.  But 
in  1875  we  find  one  of  its  members,  the  Auditor  of  State, 
declaring,  "  The  State  board  is  unable  to  make  a  just 
equalization,  because  no  authority  is  given  to  change  the 
assessment  of  a  city  without  a  corresponding  increase  or 
decrease  as  to  all  the  real  estate  in  the  county."  ^  And 
he  asked  for  an  amendment  tO'  the  law.  However,  it  was 
not  made  more  explicit,  and  from  then  on  there  were  no 
attempts  to  adjust  the  values  of  the  town  on  a  basis  different 
from  those  of  the  county. 

The  instances  of  alterations  in  personalty  values  are 
equally  few  in  number,  though  this  has  a  more  legitimate 
explanation,  the  fact  that  such  power  was  not  even  to  be 
inferred  from  the  law  until  1897.  But  there  is  evidence 
in  the  early  proceedings  of  the  board  that  they  were  not 
fully  convinced  of  their  inability  to  equalize  such  property, 
although  they  did  not  attempt  to  exercise  the  power.  Thus 
in  1858  they  expressly  resolved  that  the  assessment  of  the 
personal  property  should  not  be  altered,  a  hint  at  least  of 
a  lingering  belief  in  their  power  to  alter  it  should  they 
wish.^  But  whatever  doubts  they  may  have  had  upon 
the  matter  must  have  been  set  at  rest  in  1876,  when  the 

*In  1869,  the  Pottawattamie  county  values  were  not  altered,  but  the  values  in 
Council  Bluffs  were  increased  25  per  cent.  Ibid.,  p.  66.  See  also  cases  of  Keokuk 
and  Dubuque  in  1871,  when,  though  county  values  were  changed,  values  in  these 
cities  were  left  as  reported.     Ibid.,  p.  82. 

"^Auditor's  Report,  1875,  pp.  5,  6. 

^Record  of  the  State  Board  of  Equalization,  Book  A,  ip.  II. 


197]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  1 97 

Supreme  Court  stated,  though  the  statement  on  this  point 
was  obiter,  that  the  State  board  had  no  power  to  alter  per- 
sonal property  values/ 

Recommendations  of  the  Revenue  Commission  and 
others  ^  having  in  1897  brought  about  both  the  law  for  the 
change  of  real  property  values  by  the  State  board  and 
that  providing  that  it  should  add  to  or  deduct  from 
"  the  valuation  of  each  kind  or  class,"  the  board  took  the 
matter  up  at  an  early  meeting.  On  July  2y,  1898,  the 
board  adopted  a  basis  for  the  equalization  of  the  various 
classes  of  live  stock/  But  on  July  30,  after  extended 
discussion  and  consideration  of  the  personal  property  as- 
sessment, the  board  resolved  that  in  the  absence  of  suffi- 
cient information  any  changes  would  be  inexpedient  that 
year.  And  the  Auditor  was  instructed  to  prepare  sched- 
ules of  inquiries  to  be  submitted  to  the  county  auditors 
for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  the  board  with  information 
in  succeeding  years  sufficient  to  permit  of  a  just  review 
of  the  real  and  personal  property  assessment.*  But  in  no 
instance  do  the  records  contain  specific  reference  to  per- 
sonal property  values  other  than  those  of  live  stock. 

Finally  in  1899  an  adjustment  of  live  stock  values  was 
undertaken;  this  was  repeated  in  1900.  But  in  1901  there 
was  no  change/     The  values  were  left  as  reported  from 

*  Harney  vs.  Board  of  Supervisors^  44  la.,  203. 

'In  1885  the  State  Auditor  strongly  recommended  state  equalization  of  livestock 
values,  but  the  Governor  believed  it  infeasible.  See  Gov.  Mess.,  1886,  p.  4. 
The  recommendations  of  the  revenue  commission  were  strongly  to  this  end,  but 
they  also  urged  the  equalization  of  other  personalty  values. 

•  Record  of  the  State  Board  of  Equalization,  Book  B,  p.  152.      *  Ibid.,  p.  153. 

*  Live  Stock  Equalization. 
Reported  actual  value.  Adjusted  actual  value. 

1899 ^143,988,006  ^144,290,970 

1900 167,461,261  167,726,884 

1901 i73.363.73i  173.363.731 


1 98  ADMINISTRA TION  OF  IOWA  [1  gg 

the  counties.  Meanwhile  no  change  whatever  was  made 
at  any  time  in  the  vakies  of  other  personalty.  And  the 
failure  to  adjust  such  values  has  been  reported  quite  as  a 
matter  of  course,  without  explanation  or  comment.^ 

The  equalization  of  personal  values  other  than  live  stock 
is  thus  left  open,  and  such  values  remain,  as  they  have  been 
throughout  the  entire  history  of  the  State,  unaltered  by  any 
except  the  local  boards.  Moreover,  the  failure  to  adjust 
even  the  live  stock  values  in  1901  seems  to  threaten 
if  not  a  discontinuance,  at  least  a  broken  continuance, 
of  any  equalization  whatever  of  personalty.  Perhaps 
it  might  be  urged  in  defense  of  the  omission  in  1901 
that  the  two  adjustments  preceding  had  tended  to  bring 
the  live  stock  values  to  something  like  a  correspondence 
to  their  true  value,  but  such  an  explanation  is  hardly  ade- 
quate.^    A  better  one  would  be  that  the  board  with  its 

1  See  matter-of-fact  footnotes  to  tables  in  Auditor's  Report ^  1899,  p.  160;  1901, 
pp.  155,  196. 

'  Taking  several  of  the  wore  conspicuous  cases  of  alteration  in  valuation  by  the 
board,  it  is  found  that: 

Values  on  heifers  one  year  old  were  increased  as  follows  in  1900: 

Reported  average     Per  cent.     Adjusted  average 
value.  increase.  value. 

Butler  county  .    .    .    .  $1358  30  ^1765 

Hancock  county  .    .    .  12.28  40  17.10 

Palo  Alto  county.    .    .  12.00  40  16.80 

In  1901,  when  there  was  no  change,  these  values  were  reported  :  Butler  Co., 
I15.80;  Hancock  Co.,  |i2.02  ;  Palo  Alto  Co.,  512.05. 
Values  on  bulls  were  decreased  as  follows  in  1900 : 

Reported  average.     Per  cent.      Adjusted  average 
value.  decrease.  value. 

Johnson  county   .  ,.   ,  ^46.02  20  ^36- 7° 

Mills  county     ....  47-86  20  38.29 

Muscatine  county   .    .  46.25  15  39-32 

In  1901,  when  there  was  no  change,  these  values  were  reported :  Johnson  Co., 
144-95  ;  Mills  Co.,  $44.16;  Muscatine  Co.,  $43.61. 

These  illustrations  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely.  They  show  not  only  some- 
thing of  the  need  for  equalization  in  general,  but  that  equalization  once  begun 
must  be  continued.  The  involuntary  change  of  one  year  does  not  insure  volun- 
tary justice  in  the  assessment  of  the  next. 


199]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  jq^ 

present  facilities  finds  it  wholly  impossible  to  investigate 
adequately  values  of  that  elusive  and  unstable  character 
that  personalty  possesses,  and  so  has  deemed  it  best  to  place 
reliance  upon  those  most  nearly  advised — the  local  asses- 
sors. But  to  admit  that,  is  to  admit  weakness  in  the  board 
and  a  need  of  its  reorganization. 

From  the  foregoing  discussion  it  is  evident  that  an  esti- 
mate of  the  general  results  of  the  equalization  of  the  State 
board  can  be  merely  an  estimate  of  the  adjustment  of 
general  real  property  values  between  counties.  First  cus- 
tom, then  law,  has  made  impossible  the  special  considera- 
tion of  city  and  town  realty  as  such.  And  the  two  years 
in  which  live  stock  values  have  been  equalized  throw  but 
the  faintest  glimmer  of  light  upon  the  general  question 
of  the  equalization  of  personalty  values.  But  the  numerous 
important  adjustments  made  in  that  brief  season  indicate 
that  the  need  for  such  action  was  a  very  present  one.  They 
indicate,  moreover,  that  the  State  board  when  it  has  a 
will  to  perform  its  duties  can  accomplish  much. 

It  is  but  natural  that  we  should  find  in  the  earlier  pro- 
ceedings of  the  State  board  greater  changes  in  the  per- 
centages of  decrease  and  increase  than  are  found  in  later 
years.  Property  values  were  less  stable,  the  system  of 
valuation  less  accurate  in  the  early  years.*  For  the  first 
years  the  increase  or  decrease  sometimes  was  as  high  as 
50  per  cent.  In  1863  the  values  of  real  property  were 
increased  in  Allamakee  county  50  per  cent.,  while  in  Buena 
Vista  county  they  were  decreased  33%  per  cent.  The 
values  in  Boone  and  Harrison  counties  were  increased  50 

1  For  cases  illustrative  of  the  instability  of  values  and  imperfections  of  assess- 
ment in  the  earlier  period,  before  state  equalization,  see  Auditor's  Report^  1848, 
S.  y.y  p.  133,  There  were  tremendous  variations  in  some  cases.  In  Scott  county, 
in  1856,  there  were  assessed  30,000  acres  of  land  less  than  had  been  listed  in 
1855.     Auditor's  Report,  1856,  p.  161. 


200  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  V2Q0 

per  cent,  in  1865;  in  Franklin  county  they  were  decreased 
40  per  cent.  But  nowadays  even  the  exceptional  changes 
almost  never  exceed  25  per  cent.,  while  as  a  rule,  if  there 
is  any  change  whatever,  it  is  below  10  per  cent. 

The  sum  total  of  the  adjustments  in  real  estate  values 
between  counties  has  been  much  to  the  advantage  of  the 
State.  From  1870  to  1901  the  reported  values  were  in- 
creased at  every  equalization,  except  in  1900,  running  in 
amount  from  a  sum  under  a  million  to  over  sixteen 
millions.  This  part  of  their  duty  the  board  have  per- 
formed with  a  fair  degree  of  success,  though  it  is  doubt- 
less true,  as  the  Revenue  Commission  of  1892  believed, 
that  they  have  not  increased  the  values  of  real  estate  prc^- 
portionately  with  the  enhancement  of  their  actual  values.^ 
But  if  much  has  been  done  in  the  equalization  of  real  values 
between  counties,  practically  everything  remains  tO'  be  done 
in  their  adjustment  as  between  towns,  and  towns  and  coun- 
ties, and  in  the  adjustment  of  personalty  values.  One  need 
search  no  further  than  the  report  of  the  Revenue  Commis- 
sion for  proof  of  this.'^ 

4  STATE  CONTROL  OF  LOCAL  ADMINISTRATION 

If  segregation  has  not  been  adopted  by  a  State,  or  has 
been  provided  for  or  enforced  in  such  a  way  that  certainty 
has  not  been  secured  or  responsibility  located  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  finances,  or  if  State  assessment  or  State 
equalization  has  failed  to  encompass  these  ends,  there 
yet  exist  possible  measures  whereby  they  can  be  real- 
ized in  greater  or  less  degree.  The  local  administration 
may  be  brought  to  a  higher  plane  of  efficiency.  This 
will  be  attempted  in  one  or  both  of  two  ways,  either  by 
legislative  direction  or  by  administrative  supervision  and 

*  Report  of  Revenue  Commission ^  pp.  13,  14-  *  Idem. 


20 1  ]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  20 1 

control.  The  former  is  the  method  usually  adopted  in  the 
United  States,  notwithstanding  its  many  defects.  It  is  the 
method  that  has  obtained  in  most  cases  in  Iowa.  So  the 
discussion  of  central  administrative  control  will  be  in  large 
measure  rather  an  account  of  what  might  have  been,  but 
is  not. 

When  the  State  has  drawn  to  itself  the  immediate  admin- 
istration of  its  revenue,  of  course  the  local  administration 
is  to  that  extent  dispensed  with.  In  Iowa  at  the  present 
time  the  central  assessment  of  express,  telegraph  and  tele- 
phone companies  eliminates  their  local  assessment,  and  any 
equalization;  the  payment  of  insurance  taxes  direct  to  the 
State  treasury  eliminates  local  collection  to  that  extent. 
And  in  the  past,  when  at  various  times  telegraph,  telephone, 
express  and  railroad  companies  paid  taxes  only  to  the  State, 
and  transacted  the  revenue  business  with  State  officers 
solely,  local  administration  of  such  taxes  was  in  all  respects 
annulled.  At  the  present  time,  however,  there  is  a  wide 
local  administration,  and  in  consequence  there  abound 
many  opportunities  for  central  direction.  The  assessment, 
the  primary  equalization,  the  collection  and  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  general  property  taxes  on  individuals  and  on 
many  corporations  are  in  large  degree  methods  of  local 
administration.  And  in  the  railroad,  the  telegraph,  tele- 
phone and  express  company  taxes  the  only  work  of  admin- 
istration not  performed  by  the  locality  is  the  assessment 
and,  resultantly,  the  equalization.  Moreover,  in  the  in- 
heritance taxes,  because  of  their  peculiar  nature,  the  State 
has  found  it  economical  to  make  some  use  of  county  offi- 
cers, so  that  even  in  this  important  State  tax  local  admin- 
istration has  a  leading  place.  We  shall  examine  first  the 
administration  of  the  property  taxes,  and  afterwards  that 
of  the  inheritance  tax. 

To  the  question,  what  is  and  what  has  been  the  State 


202  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  10  WA  ["202 

control  of  the  local  administration  of  the  general  property 
tax,  outside  of  the  State  equalization  and  the  State  assess- 
ment of  the  values  of  the  several  corporations  noted,  the 
answer  in  general  must  be  that  there  has  been  none.  The 
history  of  the  central  control  in  this  respect  is  a  negative 
history.  But  from  the  standpoint  of  recommendations,  of 
legislative  effort  and  plans,  it  has  its  positive  side.  And 
these  will  shed  some  light  upon  the  particular  problems  of 
administration  here  involved. 

The  most  striking  fact  in  the  history  of  this  opinion  is 
that  the  central  control  of  local  assessments  has  never  been 
seriously  considered.  States  have  often  placed  much  reli- 
ance upon  this  device,  but  in  Iowa  it  has  been  passed  by. 
It  has  been  neglected  more  than  scorned,  and  it  is  probable 
that  under  favorable  conditions  and  a  winning  presentment 
it  might  attract  many  adherents.  The  paramount  object 
of  almost  every  effort  to  secure  a  better  local  administra- 
tion has  been  to  insure  the  prompt  collection  and  payment 
into  the  treasury  of  the  sums  due  from  the  counties  on 
the  general  State  levy.  It  has  been  believed  by  many  that 
the  best  means  to  bring  this  about  was  to  make  the  counties 
absolutely  responsible  for  the  State  levy.  This  amounted 
to  a  proposal  for  legislative  and  judicial  control.  The 
second,  and  the  only  other  important  means,  suggested 
with  any  emphasis  or  at  all  continuously  for  the  betterment 
of  the  relations  of  State  and  local  organs  in  matters  of 
finance  has  been  that  of  a  central  inspection  or  direction 
of  local  accounts,  or  the  two  of  these  instrumentalities  com- 
bined. This  proposal,  like  that  for  the  responsibility  of 
the  counties,  has  had  in  view  chiefly  the  better  security  of 
the  State  income.  But  with  it  there  has  been  linked  at 
times  a  secondary  purpose,  which  now  and  then  has  become 
of  almost  equal  importance  with  the  other.  This  purpose 
has  been  the  betterment  of  county  and  city  finances  for 


203]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  203 

the  sake  of  the  county  and  city,  and  not  merely  for  that 
of  the  State.  And  in  this  fruitless  discussion  is  to  be  found 
the  nearest  approach  that  has  been  made  to  the  central 
audit  of  local  accounts.  To  some  extent  the  means  taken 
from  time  to  time  to  render  more  dependable  the  local 
credits  and  the  local  securities,  do  of  course  affect  the  State 
finance.  But  as  this  effect  upon  it  is  entirely  secondary 
they  will  be  given  but  brief  attention. 

About  the  earliest  phenomenon  in  the  financial  history 
of  the  State  was  that  of  county  delinquency.  The  laggard 
payment,  or  the  absence  of  any  payment  whate^'er,  had 
from  the  very  outset  cost  the  State  a  pretty  penny.  And 
so  from  the  beginning  the  State  began  to  consult  its  inter- 
ests, asking  what  improvements  could  be  made  in  the  local 
administration  of  the  finances.  In  1852  the  Auditor  could 
report  that  there  were  counties  that  had  not  settled  with 
the  State  in  from  four  to  eight  years  preceding,  that  is, 
there  were  cases  where  they  had  not  even  settled  with  the 
territorial  government,  not  to  say  that  of  the  State. ^  The 
first  vigorous  step  to  better  the  finances  was  in  1857,  when 
the  Governor  was  authorized  to  appoint  agents  to  examine 
the  accounts  of  the  school  fund  commissioners.^  The 
looseness  of  these  officers  and  the  consequent  losses  to  the 
school  fund  had  become  notorious,  but  the  reports  made 
upon  the  investigation  were  probably  a  surprise  to  all  but 
the  best  informed.  Still  there  was  not  much  improvement 
in  this  fund.  In  1864  the  Legislature  attempted  to  pro- 
vide for  the  gradual  return  of  the  school  money  to  the  State 
treasury,  but  the  retention  of  it  was  left  to  the  discretion 
of  the  county  supervisor,^  and  succeeding  laws  did  not 
follow  the  slender  precedent.     Before  and  following  this 

^Auditor's  Report ^  H.  y.,  1852-53.  Appendix,  p.  3. 

«  L.,  1857,  c.  162.  »  Gov.  Mess.,  1866,  pp.  12,  13. 


204  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  IOWA  r  2 04 

act  there  was  an  ag-itation  for  the  return  of  the  funds  to 
the  State.  Governors,  financial  and  school  officers  advised 
it  on  occasion/  The  State  Auditor  found  the  accounts 
in  almost  inextricable  confusion.  The  chaos  that  the  school 
fund  commissioners  had  left  to  the  county  judge  admin- 
istration had  been'  affected  by  the  medley  of  powers  of  the 
county  judge  and  his  assistants  only  to  make  confusion 
worse  confounded.  Special  investigations  were  undertaken 
by  local  officers  from  1864  ^  to  1867,  and  frequently  the 
county  clerk  had  to  report  to  the  State  Auditor  that  it 
would  be  mere  guess  work  to  go  back  of  the  reports  for 
the  year  1866.^  In  1862  began  the  law  by  which  counties 
were  to  be  made  responsible  for  the  school  fund.*  The 
project  of  transfer  to  the  State  having  failed,  this  was  the 
only  means  left  to  secure  the  fund  against  loss.  But  ac- 
counts were  in  disorder;  there  was  the  probability  that 
a  way  of  escape  would  be  found  from  many  liabilities  by 
the  counties.  In  1869,  therefore,  the  State  Auditor  recom- 
mended that  he,  or  some  one  appointed  by  him,  be  author- 
•  ized  to  visit  the  counties  and  unravel  the  tangled  accounts.® 
This  recommendation  was  repeated  in  1871,  and  in  1872 
the  responsibility  of  the  counties  for  the  interest  on  the 
fund  was  further  enforced,  and  the  Auditor  was  authorized 
to  employ  agents  to  visit  the  several  counties  of  the  State 
whose  school  fund  accounts  remained  unadjusted  and  under 
his  own  direction  ®  effect  a  complete  settlement  of  such  ac- 
counts. A  deputy  was  designated  from  the  Auditor's  office 
to  do  the  work.     Some  forty-four  counties  were  visited. 

^Auditor's  Report,  1867,  p.  117.  Contra:  Auditor's  Report,  1 871,  pp.  ill, 
112.  In  1870  the  Governor  repeated  this  recommendation,  which  had  been  made 
by  his  four  predecessors.     Gov.  Mess.,  1870,  p.  43. 

»  Auditor's  Report,  1865,  p.  47. 

'  Ibid.,  1867,  p.  76.  *'L.,  1862,  c.  148. 

6  Auditor's  Report,  1869,  p.  98.  *L.,  1872,  c.  86. 


205]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  205 

The  aggregate  amount  gained  to  the  fund  by  these  settle- 
ments was  reported  as  $21,837.  ^^^  ^^  Auditor,  in  1873, 
stated  that  his  report  of  that  year  contained  the  first  "  full 
and  satisfactory  statement  of  the  actual  entire  available 
assets  of  the  school  fund  "  in  the  history  of  the  State. ^  A 
few  years  afterwards  the  official  statement  was  made  that 
the  school  fund  was  in  prime  condition.^ 

This  investigation  of  1872  seems  the  only  case  where 
there  has  been  a  special  central  examination  of  local  ac- 
counts. School  funds  were  subjected  to  a  certain  central 
administrative  supervision  some  years  after  county  respon- 
sibility had  been  provided  for.  It  was  provided  that  where 
school  funds  to  a  certain  amount  could  not  be  loaned  in  a 
particular  county  the  fact  could  be  certified  to  the  Auditor 
of  State,  who  should  order  their  transfer  to  some  other 
county  or  counties  where  they  could  be  loaned.  But  it  is 
obvious  that  this  was  more  by  way  of  assistance  to,  than 
control  of,  the  county.^ 

The  success  of  county  responsibility  for  the  school  funds 
and  its  tendency  to  clarify  and  simplify  the  accounts,  gave 
State  officers  the  clue  for  improvement  in  the  county  care 
of  the  State  levy,  and  a  similar  responsibility  for  the  pro- 
ceeds of  such  levy  was  urged.  In  1873  the  Auditor  ad- 
vised that  the  counties  be  held  responsible  for  the  full  State 
levy,  and  that  to  offset  any  loss  from  deductions  on  account 
of  erroneous  assessments  they  be  given  all  the  income  from 
penalties  on  delinquent  taxes,  sales  of  published  lands, 
peddlers'  licenses,  "  and  all  other  additions  to  the  original 

'^Auditor's  Report,  1873,  pp.  108,  109. 

*  Ibid.,  1877,  p.  23.  The  gradual  diminution  in  the  proceeds  of  the  fund  has 
been  due  to  the  falling  rates  of  interest  rather  than  to  fault  in  the  local  custody, 
though  the  falling  rates  have  made  the  loaning  increasingly  diflScult. 

»  Code,  1897,  §  2856. 


206  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  10  WA  ["206 

amount  derived  from  other  sources."  ^  And  now,  to  the 
middle  of  the  decade  1890- 1900,  hardly  a  biennial  period 
passed  that  both  Auditor  and  Governor  did  not  urge  county 
responsibility  in  one  form  or  another.^  But  the  Legis- 
ture  opposed  the  rising  tide  of  official  opinion;  no  change 
was  made,  and  the  county  delinquencies  still  continue. 

Though  the  means  for  the  improvement  of  the  local 
administration  most  favored  was  that  of  responsibility, 
there  were  throughout  many  recommendations  for  central 
control,  or  at  least  central  inspection,  of  local  accounts,  all 
of  which  were  equally  fruitless.  In  i860  Governor  Samuel 
J.  Kirkwood  urged  that  special  examiners  be  appointed  in 
the  counties  to  examine  the  accounts.'^  The  State  Auditor 
in  1862  recommended  that  the  law  prescribe  the  forms  of 
county  accounts  or  give  the  Auditor  authority  to  prescribe 
them.*  Recommendations  of  a  like  intent  followed.^  In 
1882  a  very  remarkable  bill,  entitled  "A  Bill  for  a  Public 
Examiner,"  was  introduced  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives.* This  bill  proposed  a  stringent  system  for  the  ex- 
amination of  the  accounts  of  public  officers.  State  and 
county.  The  public  examiner  was  to  prescribe  and  enforce 
a  system  of  book-keeping  and  accounts  by  treasurers  of 
State  institutions,  and  by  State  and  county  treasurers,  and 
visit  them  and  inspect  their  books.  He  was  to  have  the 
same  powers  to  enforce  the  giving  of  evidence  in  the  per- 
formance of  his  duties  as  belong  to  courts  of  law,  and 

»  Auditor's  Report,  pp.  98,  99.  County  responsibility  was  urged  much  before 
this,  but  the  agitation  did  not  become  persistent  till  about  this  time.  See  Gov. 
Mess.^  1862,  p.  6. 

^Auditor's  Report,  1897,  p.  6,  states  that  these  delinquencies  in  1893  were 
^654,056.84;  in  1895,1863,032.86;  and  in  1897,1971,644.08. 

»  Gov.  Inaugural,  i860,  p.  7  ;   Gov.  Mess.,  1862,  p.  6. 

*•  Auditor's  Report,  1861,  p.  32.  *  Gov.  Mess.,  1872,  p.  37. 

^  House  File,  1882,  no.  377. 


207]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  20/ 

several  other  important  powers  were  to  be  given  him. 
The  bill  failed,  but  the  Governor  in  his  message  of  1884, 
referring  to  this  general  project,  strongly  urged  the  creation 
of  a  body  of  treasury  inspectors/  The  Governor's  recom- 
mendation, however,  seemingly  inspired  little  comment, 
favorable  or  otherwise.^ 

Little  more  was  said  upon  the  matter  until  1899,®  when 
the  State  Treasurer  advised  provision  for  treasury  in- 
spectors, who  should  inspect  both  the  State  offices  and  the 
offices  of  the  county  treasurers.  He  called  attention  to  a 
number  of  defalcations  and  embezzlements  which  might 
not  have  taken  place  if  the  State  had  been  protected  in  this 
way.*  The  Treasurer's  recommendation  met  with  the  fate 
of  its  predecessors,  and  central  control  or  audit  of  local 
accounts  still  remains  an  unaccomplished  desideratum. 

Of  the  local  finance  as  distinct  from  the  State — though 
indeed  local  audit  has  its  inevitable  influence  upon  that  of 
the  State,  and  local  expenditure  is  to  a  large  extent  merely 
delegated  State  expenditure — much  may  be  said  that  is 
favorable.^  This  is  due  in  part  to  the  careful  limitation 
of  the  debt-creating  and  the  borrowing  and  funding  powers 
of  the  local  divisions  and  to  the  comparative  rectitude  of 
the  average  public  servant  of  the  State.  The  laws  whereby 
it  has  been  sought  to  promote  economy  and  sound  credit 
in  the  city  and  town  finances  have  been  legion.  But  all 
have  provided  for  legislative,  there  has  been  almost  no 
administrative,  control.  Administrative  control  was  once 
or  twice  championed  by  legislator  or  State  officer,  but  in 

1  Gov.  Mess. ,  1884,  p.  39.  2  £,^.,  Iowa  State  Register,  Jan.  16,  1884. 

^  See.  however,  Gov.  Mess.,  1890,  p.  33. 

*  Treasurer's  Report,  1899,  pp.  xxv,  xxvi.  Note  also  his  criticism  of  the  lack 
of  system  in  respect  to  various  offices  of  the  State,  and  the  lack  of  unification  of 
financial  methods. 

»  Cf.  Gov.  Mess.,  1890,  p.  33. 


208  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  TjoS 

each  case  its  advocacy  proved  futile.  In  1870  the  Governor 
constituted  himself  an  inspector  of  local  finance,  and,  issuing 
circulars  to  the  several  political  corporations  of  the  State, 
succeeded  in  gathering  material  for  a  general  estimate  of 
local  indebtedness,  a  thing  that  had  not  been  done  with  any 
thoroughness  before,  and  that  has  seldom  been  attempted 
since.  During  or  after  these  investigations  he  became 
aware  that  pretended  bonds  of  the  unorganized  county  of 
Lyon  had  been  offered  for  sale  repeatedly  in  New  York 
city,  and  he  asked  that  he  be  given  power  to  bring  those 
guilty  of  the  fraud  to  justice.^  In  his  next  message, 
prompted  by  this  instance  of  fraud,  and  the  many  cases  in 
which  bonds,  the  validity  of  which  had  been  disputed, 
were  issued,  he  submitted  to  the  Legislature  the  propriety 
of  enacting  a  law  in  which  the  bonds  of  cities,  towns  and 
school-districts  should  be  registered  by  the  Auditor  of  State 
upon  proof  of  their  legality  and  security.^  It  is  not  ap- 
parent why  he  omitted  counties.^  His  successor  made  a 
similar  recommendation,  including  counties  in  his  proposal.'* 
But  e\'en  this  slight  measure  of  administrative  supervision 
met  with  no  favor,  and  the  means  employed  to  improve  the 
local  finances  and  the  local  securities  were  legislative.^ 
Slight  qualifications  of  this  statement  are  to  be  derived 
from  such  powers  as  those  of  the  State  Auditor  to  issue 
requisitions  for  information  and  accounts,  or  the  State 
board  of  review  to  levy  taxes  to  pay  the  bonds  of  counties, 
cities,  towns  or  school  districts  when  final  judgment  has 

1  Gov.  Mess.,  1870,  pp.  32,  33.        .  '  Ibid.,  187 1,  p.  37. 

•  Jbid.,  1874,  pp.  45,  46.  And  see  criticism  of  conditions,  in  Auditor's  Report^ 
1877,  p.  20. 

*  In  1876  members  of  the  boards  of  supervisors  in  counties  having  over  4,000 
population  were  made  personally  responsible  for  an  issue  of  bonds  beyond  the 
constitutional  limit.  See  L.,  1876,  c.  125.  The  Governor  in  1878  advised  that 
the  rule  be  extended  to  cities,  towns  and  districts.     Gov,  Mess.^  p.  32. 


209]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  200 

been  obtained  and  the  proper  authorities  of  such  municipal 
corporations  fail  to  make  the  levy. 

The  development  of  the  State  inheritance  tax  law  illus- 
trates more  forcibly  than  most  things  in  the  history  of  the 
finances  what  administrative  improvement  can  do  to  advan- 
tage the  revenue.  Several  changes  in  the  local  adminis- 
tration and  additions  to  the  central  administrative  control 
have  increased  the  income  from  this  tax  in  a  high  degree. 

The  first  two  years  the  returns  from  the  tax  were  very 
meagre.  From  July  4,  1896,  to  July  i,  1897,  only  five 
estates  were  reported  to  the  treasury  department  as  liable 
to  the  tax,  and  nothing  was  paid  into  the  treasury  in  that 
time.  During  the  second  year  some  additional  estates  were 
reported  as  discovered,  but  by  April  6,  1898,  only  fifty  had 
been  recorded,  and  the  total  amount  of  the  tax  paid  in 
about  two  years  amounted  to  but  $3,567.08.^  The  cause 
of  this  failure  was  inquired  into.  It  was  pointed  out  that 
the  administrator,  executor  or  trustee,  the  judge  of  the 
district  court,  the  clerk  of  the  court,  the  Treasurer  of  State, 
each  at  some  period  in  the  process  of  the  descent  of  prop- 
erty, though  chiefly  the  court,  was  charged  with  some  re- 
sponsibility. And  though  the  probate  or  administration 
and  settlement  of  an  estate  is  not  a  difficult  process,  it  is 
often  one  of  many  steps  and  many  formalities,  so  that  when 
complexity  in  the  administration  of  the  tax  was  added  to 
the  inherent  complexity  in  the  execution  or  administration 
of  estates,  confusion  and  the  destruction  of  responsibility 
might  be  expected.  The  Treasurer  of  State,  the  officer 
most  concerned  in  the  matter,  maintained  with  much  force 
that  the  cause  of  the  difficulty  was  the  "  lack  of  responsible, 
central  and  systematic  control  and  supervision  of  the  en- 
forcement of  the  law."  ^     He  pointed  out  two  means  of 

»  Treasurer's  Report,  1899,  P*  xxxvii.  ^  Ibid.,  1897,  PP-  44.  45- 


2  lO  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  10  WA  r2 1  q 

improvement,  that  of  giving  the  Treasurer  poorer  to  act 
directly  or  that  of  devolving  the  collection  of  the  tax  upon 
the  county  officials,  with  a  right  to  a  commission  on  the 
amount  collected  to  secure  their  zealous  performance  of 
the  duty.  Or,  he  said,  parts  of  both  plans  might  be  em- 
ployed. He  preferred  the  first.^  He  was  also  of  opinion 
that  there  were  grave  constitutional  objections  to  the  ad- 
ministrative functions  that  the  law  required  of  judicial 
officers,  and  would  have  them  relieved  of  all  such  duties.^ 
His  criticisms  were  later  confirmed  in  part  by  the  Attorney- 
General  and  supported  by  the  Governor.^ 

In  1898  a  law  was  passed  for  the  better  administration 
of  the  tax.*  It  was  provided  that  the  chief  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  should  appoint  five  judges  of  the  district 
courts  to  meet  with  him  for  the  purpose  of  framing  uni- 
form rules  and  regulations  relative  to  the  assessment  and 
collection  of  the  tax,  these  rules  when  made  to  form  a  part 
of,  and  be  published  with,  the  rules  of  the  district  court. 
Clerks  of  the  courts  were  to  report  lists  of  heirs  and  real 
estate  to  the  treasury  department,  as  were  county  attorneys 
to  the  Treasurer.  In  this  way  the  supervision  by  the  Treas- 
urer was  increased.  The  county  attorney  was  to  be  allowed 
a  fee  for  his  services.  He  was  to  assist  in  collecting  the 
tax  under  the  direction  of  the  Treasurer.  Thus  the  admin- 
istration was  affected  both  at  the  center  and  in  the  locality. 
The  fact  that  the  rules  for  the  assessment  and  collection 
of  the  tax  were  to  be  framed  by  a  body  of  judges,  and  that 
such  rules  were  to  have  the  status  of  rules  of  judicial  pro- 
cedure in  what  was,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  State 
at  least,  purely  an  administrative  matter,  was  a  denial  of 
the  recommendations  of  the  Treasurer,   who  had  wished 

1  Treasurer's  Report,  1897,  P-  S^-     '  ^bid.,  pp.45,  53.     ^ Ibid,  1899,  p.  xxxvii. 
«Z.,  1898,0.  37. 


2 1 1  ]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  2 1 1 

to  separate  the  judicial  and  administrative  services.  But 
the  rules  adopted  were  in  a  large  measure  successful.  One 
in  particular,  that  providing  for  the  appointment  of  regular 
inheritance  tax  appraisers,  met  the  hearty  approval  of  the 
Treasurer.^  And  too  much  stress  is  not  to  be  laid  upon 
the  combination  of  administrative  with  judicial  functions 
in  this  case,  for  the  interests  of  private  law  are,  in  any 
question  of  inheritance,  perhaps  more  crucial  than  the  in- 
terests of  public  law.  The  interests  of  heirs,  devisees,  leg- 
atees, executors  and  administrators  are  concerned  at  the 
same  moment  that  the  public  revenue  is,  and  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  those  officers,  the  judicial,  who  everywhere  are 
made  the  guardians  of  private  rights  should  be  charged 
with  a  part  of  the  powers  of  control. 

The  results  of  the  amendment  were  immediate  and  grati- 
fying. The  revenue  from  inheritances  increased  by  leaps 
and  bounds.^  The  Treasurer  was  alive  to  this  improve- 
ment. At  the  same  time  he  was  able  to  point  out  instances 
in  which  the  income  fell  far  short  of  what  it  should  be. 
He  pointed  out  that  if  county  clerks  and  attorneys  failed 
to  make  the  reports,  nothing  could  be  done  by  the  State 
Treasurer,  and  the  treasury  was  to  this  extent  at  their 
mercy.  He  advised  that  executors,  trustees  and  adminis- 
trators be  required  to  certify  to  the  State  Treasurer  such 
parts  of  their  reports  as  he  might  demand.^  This  w^as 
provided  for  the  following  year,*  and  the  Treasurer  was 
given  an  important  control  over  the  fees  to  be  paid  the 
county  attorneys.  In  the  event  of  uncertainty  or  conflict- 
ing claims  as  to  the  fees  due  county  attorneys  he  may  deter- 
mine the  amount  due,  to  whom  payable,  and  when  due, 
and  so  far  as  possible  the  determination  is  to  be  made  in 

'^  Treasurer's  Report,  \Z^(),.'^.yiy.^\^.  ^  Ante,  p.  iSy. 

»  Treasurer's  Report,  1899,  pp.  liii,  liv.  *Z.,  1900,  c.  51. 


212  ,  ADMINISTRATION  01^  IOWA  [212 

accordance  with  the  rules  fixed  by  the  Treasurer.  But 
another  and  a  more  vital  recommendation  was  passed  over. 
The  Treasurer  here,  as  in  the  case  of  local  accounts,  asked 
for  a  corps  of  treasury  inspectors  who  should  examine  into 
the  inheritance  taxes  in  the  several  counties.  The  sugges- 
tion failed  of  adoption,  and  there  seems  no  immediate 
prospect  that  the  law  will  provide  for  these  officers. 

IV  Correlation  of  the  Processes  of  Centralization 
In  the  foregoing  pages  the  phenomena  of  the  finances,  or, 
more  particularly,  of  the  State  income  administration,  have 
been  traced  in  some  detail,  and  it  has  been  shown  that  cer- 
tain broad  tendencies  are  discernible,  shaping  powerfully 
the  administration  of  the  public  finance.  Looked  at  from 
the  standpoint  of  centralization — that  point  of  view  from 
which  the  problems  of  administration  can  be  best  under- 
stood— it  is  observed  how  close  is  the  correlation  of  these 
forces.  Judicial  decision  stands  out  as  the  correlating 
medium.  Judicial  decision  has  grievously  arrested  the 
course  of  a  healthful  separation  of  State  and  local  sources 
of  revenue,  with  the  attendant  prospect  of  a  simplified 
administration  and  a  greater  certainty  in  taxation.  But 
as  judicial  decision  has  destroyed,  it  has  also  been  the  occa- 
sion of  the  discovery  of  forces  which  to  a  degree  have 
served  much  the  same  purpose  as  segregation.  These 
forces  are  State  assessment.  State  equalization  or  State 
control  of  the  local  administration. 

To-day  State  assessment  is  the  most  effective  feature  of 
the  central  revenue  administration  in  Iowa.  Equalization, 
though  potentially  effective,  has  been  of  little  avail  in  prac- 
tice. With  a  better  organization  it  mignt  accomplish  far 
more  than  it  has.  The  State  control  of  the  local  admin- 
istration, used  as  yet  only  in  the  inheritance  tax,  and  there, 
though  not  fully,  with  good  effect,  has  not  been  given  an 


213]  PUBLIC  FINANCE  2 1 3 

adequate  test.  But  it  is  an  expedient  rich  in  promise,  and 
might  well  employ  the  zeal  of  those  interested  in  the  finan- 
cial problem. 

The  outlook  for  the  future  with  present  laws  continued 
promises  no  advantage  over  the  past.  Indeed,  with  the 
destruction  of  the  State  taxes  on  telegraph,  telephone  and 
express  companies  by  the  courts,  and  the  highly  discre- 
tionary assessments  of  the  Executive  Council  to  be  dealt 
with,  it  is  probable  that  revenue  controversy  will  fret  the 
State  for  many  a  day.  And  over  all  there  continue  still 
the  great  unsolved  problems  of  the  general  property  tax. 

But  under  changed  laws  and  a  changed  social  attitude, 
a  greater  stirring  of  the  public  interest,  improvement  could 
doubtless  be  made.  And  these  changes  would  partake  in 
no  degree  of  the  odium  of  reform,  for  they  would  be  merely 
old  measures  or  old  recommendations  made  definite,  thor- 
ough and  safe.  First  of  all  the  State  should  rid  itself  of 
those  bonds  which  restrict  the  assignment  of  particular 
sources  of  revenue  to  central  or  local  government.  This 
would  require  a  constitutional  amendment,  but  that  is  not 
difficult  in  a  State.  To  its  own  freedom  and  power  as  a 
government  the  State  owes  this  change,  and  when  once 
accomplished  the  way  will  be  opened  to  many  betterments. 
This  is  not  the  place  for  the  full  advocacy  of  measures  of 
betterment,  but  the  history  of  the  finance  of  Iowa  must 
make  it  appear  to  the  least  attentive  student  that  the  re- 
organization of  the  State  board  of  equalization,  the  strength- 
ening, modifying  and  extension  of  its  powers,  perhaps  the 
central  control  of  local  assessments  and  the  central  audit 
of  local  accounts — not  to  speak  of  a  multitude  of  minor 
ways  of  advancement — would  make  fairer,  sounder  and 
more  vigorous  the  finance,  and  so  would  improve  the  social 
and  industrial  welfare  of  the  State. 


CHAPTER   VI 

CONCLUSION 

The  examination  of  the  laws  and  documents  of  the  State, 
of  official  messages  and  reports,  of  public  opinion,  of  the 
operation  and  results  of  administration,  bring  into  promi- 
nent relief  two  c'ardinal  facts  in  the  development  of  admin- 
istrative policy  and  tendency  in  Iowa.  They  are  these: 
That  while  prizing  its  privileges  of  local  self-government, 
the  local  division,  be  it  township,  city  or  county,  has  never 
gone  to  the  length,  familiar  in  some  of  the  older  States,  of 
making  its  self-rule  a  tocsin  to  be  sounded  on  the  slightest 
threats  of  encroachment.  And  the  second  is  that  from  the 
very  first  there  has  been  a  willingness  to  see  the  State  ad- 
ministration exercise  authority  when  it  has  been  made  clear 
that  the  State  was  by  nature  better  fitted  than  the  locality 
to  serve  the  public  interest.  These  are  tendencies.  They 
are  not  rules  that  will  fit  every  fact  in  the  development  of 
the  administration.  And  they  have  their  exceptions.  But 
exceptions  and  departures  are  to  be  ascribed  as  much  as 
anything  to  the  obstacles  that  the  structure  of  government, 
inevitably  patterned  after  that  of  the  sister  States,  has 
imposed.  Legislative  centralization  and  administrative  de- 
centralization, these  are  the  characteristics  of  the  American 
State,  and  in  these  Iowa  has  shared.  But  in  the  course  of 
time  the  second  of  the  two,  administrative  decentralization, 
has  been  in  a  measure  corrected.  Legislative  centraliza- 
tion continues,  though  administration  by  the  Legislature, 
of  which  numerous  instances  are  to  be  found  in  the  earlier 
214  [214 


215]  CONCLUSION  21$ 

history  of  the  State,  is  not  so  often  known  at  the  present 
time. 

If  it  were  attempted  to  examine  all  the  branches  of  the 
administration  together,  with  a  view  to  making  a  general 
statement  concerning  the  development  of  central  control, 
it  would  be  noted  that  down  to  the  year  1862  substantially 
every  branch  except  public  education  was  decentralized. 
In  that  year  the  tax  on  the  gross  receipts  of  railways  for 
State  and  county  purposes  opened  the  way  for  a  degree  of 
centralization  in  the  income  administration.  A  rather  weak 
addition  is  made  in  1880,  with  the  creation  of  the  State 
Board  of  Health,  but  the  gradual  increase,  in  other  direc- 
tions, of  detail  in  the  State  control  is  sufficient  to  establish 
this  year  as  the  beginning  of  one  of  the  three  or  four  im- 
portant periods.  The  creation  of  the  Board  of  Control  in 
1898  makes  a  pronounced  addition,  and  finally  the  years 
1900  and  1902  witness  important  extension  of  the  State 
control  of  education  and  health.  It  is  to  be  observed  that 
the  centralization  of  charities  and  corrections,  so  far  as 
they  were  assumed  by  the  State,  and  of  the  health  admin- 
istration come  comparatively  late.  But  this  is  largely  due 
to  the  later  development  of  these  functions  of  government 
as  such. 

The  student  of  administration  will  remark  the  absence  of 
State  administration  in  the  realm  of  the  poHce,  in  general 
poor  relief,  in  the  care  of  highways  and  in  several  more 
minor  directions.  Knowing  of  the  role  that  prohibition  of 
the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  has  played 
in  the  history  of  the  State,  he  will  immediately  ask  if  the 
State  did  not  itself  attempt  to  secure  the  enforcement  of 
these  laws  by  agents  under  its  immediate  control.  Prohi- 
bition has  led  to  the  development  of  State  police  in  some 
other  States.  In  Massachusetts,  where  such  a  development 
took  place,  the  State  police  were  continued  even  after  pro- 


2 1 6  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  IOWA  r 3  j g 

hibition  was  done  away  with.  They  were  constituted  a 
sort  of  State  detective  corps.  But  in  Iowa  the  idea  of 
enforcing  the  prohibition  laws  through  other  than  the  local 
police  seems  never  to  have  been  entertained.  This  does 
not  signify  that  the  function  of  police  protection  and  regu- 
lation has  been  deemed  a  local  function.  On  the  contrary 
the  local  political  corporations  have  not  been  held  respon- 
sible for  the  actions  of  police  officers  engaged  in  the  per- 
formance of  these  duties.  The  courts  have  expressly  said 
that  they  represented  the  State  alone,  and  that  the  locality 
could  not  be  held  liable  for  breach  or  wrong  by  them.^ 

The  absence  of  State  administration  of  the  poor  relief 
would  seem  to  be,  in  the  light  of  the  history  of  some  other 
States,  in  large  part  attributable  to  the  absence  of  a  State 
pauper  class.  In  the  coast  States,  or  those  where  large 
cities  and  large  numbers  of  immigrants  are  found,  fre- 
quently the  State  has  to  care  for  the  destitute  and  incapable 
who  have  not  gained  a  local  residence.  Such  conditions 
have  not  existed  in  Iowa.  Moreover,  the  poor  laws  have 
always  been  stringent  in  their  provisions  that  the  respon- 
sibility shall  rest  with  the  county,  and  that  the  county  if 
it  fails  to  transport  the  pauper  beyond  the  State's  limits 
shall  itself  become  responsible  for  his  maintenance.  And 
placing  the  burden  thus  upon  the  county,  the  State  has  been 
disinclined  to  go  a  step  further  and  dictate  how  that  burden 
shall  be  borne.  The  time  is  now  ripe,  however,  for  some 
central  control  in  this  matter.  The  condition  of  the  poor- 
houses  and  poor  farms  demands  direction  from  without. 
The  question  of  poor  relief  has  more  than  a  local  meaning. 
It  has  a  broad  social  bearing. 

*  See  Lahner  vs.  Town  of  Williams,  112  la.,  428,  and  cases  cited.  In  Easterly 
vs.  7  own  of  Irwin,  99  la.,  694,  it  was  said  :  "In  the  matter  of  enforcing  its  police 
regulations,  the  city  acts  as  an  agent  of  the  State  in  the  discharge  of  duties  im- 
posed by  law  for  the  promotion  and  preservation  of  the  public  good,  and  not  as  a 
mere  private  corporation  in  the  management  of  its  corporate  concerns." 


217]  CONCLUSION  217 

Nothing  has  been  done  in  the  way  of  State  management 
of  highways.  Since  the  incoming  of  the  railroads,  for  the 
supervision  of  which  it  may  be  noted  a  commission  with 
broad  powers  was  provided,  that  has  been  subject  to  more 
criticism,  favorable  and  otherwise,  than  any  other  in  the 
United  States,  little  or  nothing  has  been  done  by  the  State 
for  State  roads.  Previous  to  the  railroad  period  a  great 
body  of  the  legislation  had  to  do  with  State  highways  and 
special  highway  commissions.  But  the  subject  of  good 
roads  is  now  one  of  constant  public  agitation,  and  it  may 
be  that  in  due  time  the  attention  of  the  Legislature  will  be 
invited  to  some  project  for  centralization  in  their  man- 
agement. 

State  administration  has  not  been  known  to  Iowa  in 
these  classes  of  cases,  yet  the  State  has  been  among  the 
pioneers  in  some  others.  The  most  conspicuous  of  these 
is  the  State  Board  of  Control.  But  ten  States  have  adopted 
this  high  degree  of  centralization  in  charities  and  correc- 
tions. And  the  board  created  by  Minnesota  in  1901  was 
confessedly  based  upon  the  Iowa  plan.  The  law  by  which 
it  was«  enacted  follows  with  remarkable  fidelity  that  pro- 
viding for  the  Iowa  board.  Another  important  instance 
of  almost  original  legislation  in  central  administration  was 
the  law  providing  for  the  central  supervision  of  milk  dealers 
in  the  larger  cities. 

Centralization  has  led  to  the  entire  exclusion  of  local 
administration  in  some  cases.  In  others  it  has  led  merely 
to  the  central  supervision  of  local  authorities.  Of  the  pos- 
sible methods  of  central  control  of  local  authorities  prac- 
tically all  except  two  are  employed.  The  issuing  of  rules 
and  orders  dealing  with  affairs  locally  administered  is  most 
conspicuous  in  the  case  of  the  State  Board  of  Health;  the 
decision  of  appeals,  in  the  case  of  the  State  Superintendent 
of  Public  Instruction;  the  administration  of  local  affairs 


2 1 8  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  10  WA  [218 

when  local  authorities  fail  to  perform  their  duties  or  per- 
form them  in  an  unsatisfactory  manner,  by  the  State  Board 
of  Health,  and  by  the  Board  of  Control  in  its  relation  to 
local  institutions  where  the  insane  are  kept;  the  central 
endorsement  or  accrediting  of  functions  performed  locally, 
in  the  work  of  the  State  Board  of  Educational  Examiners, 
and  the  High  school  section  of  the  State  Teachers'  Asso- 
ciation, while  the  making  of  reports,  diffusion  of  knowl- 
edge, and,  to  some  extent,  the  holding  of  inquiries,  are  to 
be  found  in  almost  every  branch  of  the  administration 
examined.  But'  the  methods  of  granting  money  by  the 
State  upon  condition  that  certain  requirements  shall  be 
fulfilled,  and  the  approval  of  the  acts  of  local  authorities 
as  a  prerequisite  to  their  validity,  have  been  employed  to 
no  measurable  degree  in  Iowa.  The  former  method  is  a 
principal  one  in  England,  and  it  has  been  used  with  good 
results  in  a  number  of  American  States.  Under  a  proper 
adjustment  of  the  school  support  it  might  be  used  with 
telling  effect  in  the  school  administration  of  Iowa,  and 
possibly  in  some  other  branches.  And  the  suggestion  is 
not  an  idle  one  so  long  as  the  school  fund  exists  or  bills 
are  introduced  for  State  aid  to  public  schools.  The  second 
of  these  methods  might  find  its  place  in  the  State  supervi- 
sion or  audit  of  local  finances,  were  that  advance  to  be  made. 
Of  course  more  than  a  simple  ascertainment  of  the 
spheres  within  which  the  State  and  the  local  control  are 
to  be  severally  exercised  is  essential  to  responsible  and  effi- 
cient administration.  There  are  questions  of  tenure  of 
office,  of  the  degree  to  which  under-officials  shall  be  sub- 
ordinated to  their  chiefs,  of  the  bi-partisan  or  non-partisan 
character  of  the  particular  board  or  office,  of  the  relations 
of  the  administration  to  the  Legislature,  to  the  Executive 
and  to  politics.  These  have  been  largely  considered  in 
the  preceding  chapters.     Long  terms  of  office  have  been 


2 1 9]  CONCL  US  I  ON  2 1 9 

established  for  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Control  and 
for  the  unpaid  Board  of  Health.  In  the  school  adminis- 
tration, however,  the  administrative  head,  the  State  Super- 
intendent, is  elected  for  but  two  years,  though  he  is  usually 
re-elected.  And  one  would  almost  say  that  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  taxes  continues  to  be  a  political  rather  than 
an  administrative  service,  so  far  as  the  central  control  has 
been  organized.  To  the  problem  of  the  appropriate  degree 
of  subordination  of  ministerial  officers  or  those  who  exer- 
cise discretion,  within  an  administrative  branch,  the  Board 
of  Control  has  given  an  answer  in  a  large  measure  success- 
ful, while  the  question  of  the  relation  of  administration 
to  politics  has  perhaps  been  more  nearly  solved  here  than 
elsewhere. 

Of  the  relative  merits  of  unpaid  non-professional  and 
salaried  professional  service  the  experience  of  Iowa  affords 
some  test.  Both  systems  have  been  and  are  employed. 
The  present  adjustment  is,  all  things  considered,  compara- 
tively satisfactory.  Unpaid  non-professional  service  failed 
notoriously  in  the  administration  of  charities  and  correc- 
tions, and  the  change  to  the  paid  central  board  worked  an 
immediate  advancement.  The  members  thereof  because  of 
their  judicial  or  administrative  experience  may  be  said  to  be 
professionally  fitted  for  their  work.  In  fact  in  the  ma- 
jority of  administrative  boards  and  offices,  other  than  the 
heads  of  departments,  an  informal  professional  equipment 
is  necessary.  Members  of  the  State  Board  of  Health  are 
all  professional ;  members  of  the  State  Board  of  Educational 
Examiners  are  largely  so;  the  State  Dairy  Commissioner, 
as  the  statute  reads,  must  have  a  professional  training  for 
his  office;  and,  descending  to  the  lesser  offices,  some,  such 
as  inspectors  of  mines  and  oil  inspectors,  are  appointed  only 
upon  examination  or  in  accordance  with  the  restrictive  regu- 
lations of  a  central  board.     In  the  case  of  the  State  Board 


2 20  ADMINIS TRA TION  OF  IOWA  [-220 

of  Health  is  found  an  instance  of  unpaid  professional  ser- 
vice. But  the  secretary,  who  acts  as  the  executive  agent  of 
the  board,  is  paid.  The  boards  of  trustees  of  the  educational 
institutions  are  in  their  general  composition  non-professional 
and  unsalaried.  They  are  allowed  mileage  and  a  per  diem 
at  the  present  time,  though  in  the  earlier  history  of  the  state 
the  per  diem  was  wanting.  These  boards  have  not  been 
entirely  successful;  their  dependence  upon  the  state  legis- 
lature and  political  manipulation  have  sometimes  led  to  un- 
fortunate results. 

The  economic  causes  and  justification  of  central  control 
are  almost  obvious.  The  growth  of  population,  the  in- 
crease of  wealth,  the  elimination  of  distance  through  easier 
communication,  have  all  tended  to  extend  the  community  of 
interest  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  local  division  and 
made  the  state  in  many  ways  almost  the  administrative  unit. 
So  late  as  1868  it  was  said  that  but  one-sixth  of  the  lands  of 
the  state  were  enclosed.^  And  in  1870  there  were  counties 
having  less  than  a  hundred  inhabitants  that  had  been  organ- 
ized ten  years  previously.^  And  as  in  other  states,  local 
communities,  even  families,  were  in  the  earlier  period  the 
economic  units  and  almost  self-sustaining.  But  thirty 
years  have  changed  all  this,  and  now  there  is  no  other 
state  in  which  so  large  a  per  cent,  of  the  soil  is  under  culti- 
vation, and  few  so  uniformly  settled.  And  with  growth 
has  come  a  measure  of  differentiation  and  the  division  of 
labor. 

The  tendency  to  centralize  is  pronounced  throughout  the 
United  States  at  the  present  time.  In  the  year  1901  alone 
more  than  forty  new  state  offices  or  boards  were  authorized 
by  the  various  state  legislatures,  and  the  principal  features 
of  legislation  in  regard  to  state  government  were  the  in- 
crease in  these  state  agencies,  the  centralizing  tendencies  in 

»  Gov.  Mess.,  1868,  p.  II.  ^Ibid.,  1870,  p.  32. 


2  2 1  ]  CONCL  USION  221 

respect  to  them,  and  the  increased  expenditure  for  the  pur- 
pose of  state  administrative  organization/  Thus  the  move- 
ment is  one  of  present  and  future  import.  Its  future  exten- 
sion in  Iowa  is  most  probable.  Questions  will  constantly 
arise  to  provoke  its  consideration.  For  example,  the  sub- 
ject of  interurban  street  railways  has  within  the  last  year  or 
two  engaged  the  attention  of  the  legislature,  and  it  can 
not  be  said  that  the  questions  of  administration  involved 
have  been  settled.  There  are  those  who  believe  a  measure 
of  state  administrative  regulation  will  be  necessary.  The 
novelty  and  complexity  of  the  questions  involved  are  such 
that  there  is  likely  to  be  a  deal  of  legislative  regulation, 
which  is  nothing  less  than  legislative  administration.  To 
any  one  who  examines  the  charters  and  ordinances  upon 
which  many  of  the  local  railways  rest  their  franchises,  which 
local  companies  are  chiefly  interested  in  the  interurban  lines, 
it  will  become  clear  immediately  that  the  questions  which 
are  to  arise  will  probably  fail  of  a  satisfactory  settlement  if 
attempt  is  made  to  solve  them  solely  in  the  General  Assembly 
without  administrative  intervention.  The  case  of  Des 
Moines  may  be  taken  as  an  illustration.  Here  no  less  than 
a  dozen  charters  and  charter  modifications  now  appear  in 
the  city  ordinances,  at  least  all  nominally  affecting  the  con- 
solidated franchises  of  the  present  sole  occupant  of  the  city 
streets  (a  company  that  is  extending  its  lines  to  the  near-by 
towns) ,  though  it  is  likely  that  not  more  than  one  or  two  of 
these  charters  would  be  relied  upon  for  the  company's  rights 
in  the  last  resort,  if  the  matter  were  to  be  brought  into  liti- 
gation. The  city  hardly  knows  what  its  rights  are  in  the 
premises,  the  state  is  even  less  informed  of  its  interests. 
The  question  then  is  an  urgent  one, — can  the  public  interests 
in  the  interurban  railways  be  conserved  through  other  than 

»  Review  of  Legislation,  1901,  New  York  State  Library,  Bulletin  72,  pp.  16,  18. 


222  ADMINISTRATION  OF  IOWA  [222 

administrative  inquiry  and  regulation  on  the  part  of  the 
state?  For  the  interurban  line  is  assuredly  of  more  than 
local  interest.  And  this  is  a  single  illustration  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  question  of  state  administration  arises  and 
will  continue  to  arise.  Many  others  might  be  cited,  par- 
ticularly in  the  branches  of  administration  already  estab- 
lished. 

The  future  of  state  administration  in  Iowa  will  depend 
upoil  many  things.  Constitutional  amendment  will  be 
necessary  if  the  taxes  are  to  be  made  to  subserve  the  highest 
public  interest.  A  gradual  change,  a  change  already  per- 
ceptible, in  the  attitude  of  the  legislature  concerning  the 
proper  subjects  of  legislative  control  will  be  necessary.  How 
often  has  it  been  noted  in  the  course  of  this  study  that  legis- 
lative administration  is  inexpedient,  that  it  tends  to  violate 
the  principle  of  the  separation  of  powers  of  government, 
and  approaches  the  unconstitutional.  We  can  find  in  the 
early  history  of  the  state  instances  where  a  legislature  has 
actually  gone  the  length  of  contracting  for  the  lease  of  a 
penitentiary,  and  the  example  is  but  one  of  many.  The 
instances  of  minute  restriction,  legalization,  formulation  of 
administrative  practice  by  the  legislature  can  be  numbered 
by  the  hundred — all  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  perversions  of 
the  legislative  function.  It  is  believed  that  the  tendency  is 
steadily  away  from  this,  and  therein  lies  a  hope  of  better- 
ment. 

But  to  the  fuller  realization  of  efficiency,  responsibility 
and  independence  in  administration  something  more  than 
constitutional  amendment,  or  changes  in  legislative  method, 
or  a  greater  perfection  of  the  details  of  the  administrative 
organs  themselves  will  be  necessary.  There  will  need  to  be 
a  more  perfect  fashioning  of  the  structure,  and  a  better 
understanding  of  the  service  of  the  political  party.  For  the 
political  party  is  as  much  an  organ  of  government  as  any 


223]  CONCL  USION  22  3 

branch  recognized  in  a  constitution/  To  some  it  may 
seem  that  admission  of  the  need  of  change  here  puts  admin- 
istrative progress  beyond  the  realm  of  the  possible.  But 
this  is  not  so.  For  the  very  fact  that  there  has  been  a  degree 
of  centralization  has  put  in  operation  subtle  forces  which 
will  tend  to  change  the  position  of  the  party.  One  part  of 
a  governmental  machine  cannot  be  materially  altered  with- 
out affecting  every  other.  There  are  certain  functions  of 
government  that  should  be  secure  from  political  interference. 
The  judicial  function  has  been  universally  recognized  as 
such  an  one  in  Anglo-Saxon  countries.  To  this  may  be 
added  "  the  gwa^f-judicial  function,  the  statistical  and  semi- 
scientific  functions,  and  the  function  of  establishing,  pre- 
serving and  developing  the  governmental  organization."  ^ 
To  a  degree  certain  of  these  functions  have  been  removed 
from  politics  in  Iowa.  What  is  the  result?  To  that  degree 
the  function  of  the  party  has  been  reduced  to  narrow  bounds. 
Reduction  means  concentration,  intensification.  It  means 
that  the  play  of  political  forces  will  become  more  intelligible 
to  the  popular  eye;  it  means  greater  publicity  of  political 
activities,  hence  greater  responsibility  or  responsiveness  of 
the  party  to  the  popular  will.  In  the  second  place  there  has 
been  a  measure  of  transference  of  administrative  control 
from  locality  to  state.  This  has  a  vital  meaning.  Under  a 
decentralized  system  the  elector  undertakes  to  control  both 
the  state  and  the  local  government,  and  ends  by  controlling 
neither.  That  local  choice  of  state  servants  is  in  some  cases 
wise,  is  to  be  admitted,  but  that  that  choice  when  made  shall 
be  with  knowledge  of  the  real  character  of  the  service  to  be 
rendered,  and  that  the  local  agent  of  the  state  shall  be  amen- 

1  Frank  J.  Goodnow,  Politics  and  Adviinstration^  pp.  l6,  17,  18;  H,  J.  Ford, 
The  Rise  and  Growth  of  Aviericar  Politics,  p.  220. 
*  Goodnow,  op.  cit.,  p.  79. 


224  ADMINISTRATION  OF  iOWA  ["224 

able  to  the  state's  administrative  organs — these  things  are 
imperative.  And  it  is  these  things  that  centraHzation  tends 
to  accompHsh.  It  is  impossible  here  to  follov^  out  in  detail 
the  full  effect  of  centralization  and  of  the  clear  definition  of 
spheres  of  State  and  local  government  on  politics.^  But 
enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  their  salutary  tendency. 
Of  course  these  things  alone  will  not  make  the  political  party 
all  that  it  should  be, — the  sensitive  exponent  of  the  will  of 
the  state.  In  America  the  co-ordination  of  the  expression 
and  the  execution  of  the  will  of  the  state  is  made  outside  the 
organization  of  government,  and  the  means  by  which  the 
party  may  be  made  fully  responsible  are  not  easy  of  ascer- 
tainment. Among  these  means  are  improvement  in  election 
and  primary  laws,  in  registration,  in  the  control  of  parties 
by  the  courts;  but  one  of  the  chief,  if  not  the  fundamental 
means,  is  that  found  in  the  centralization  of  administration 
and  the  nice  adjustment  that  results  through  it  in  the  rela- 
tion of  township,  city,  county  and  commonwealth. 

»  For  a  full  discussion  of  this  important  subject  see  Frank  J.  Goodnow,  Politics 
and  Administration. 


VITA 

The  writer  of  this  dissertation  was  bom  in  Des  Moines, 
Iowa,  January  17,  1876.  He  was  graduated  from  the  West 
Des  Moines  High  School  in  1894.  His  collegiate  training 
was  obtained  at  the  University  of  Michigan,  from  which 
he  received  the  following  degrees :  In  1899,  LL.  B. ;  in  1900, 

B.  L.,  and  in  1901,  A.  M.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
of  Michigan  and  to  the  bar  of  Iowa  in  1899.  During  the 
year  1 900-1 901,  which  was  spent  at  the  University  of  Michi- 
gan in  graduate  work  in  finance,  administrative  law  and 
American  history,  he  compiled  A  Twelve-Year  Survey  of 
State  Railroad  Taxation,  the  work  being  Part  V .  of  a  gov- 
ernment publication  entitled  Railroads  in  the  United  States. 
This  work  was  done  under  the  direction  of  Professor  Henry 

C.  Adams,  statistician  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission.    He  also  assisted  in  economics  during  that  year. 

From  January  to  April,  1902,  he  practiced  law  at  Des 
Moines.  Receiving  an  appointment  in  April  as  University 
Fellow  in  Administrative  Law  in  Columbia  University,  he 
resumed  graduate  study,  and  during  the  year  1902- 1903  he 
pursued  studies  at  Columbia  University  in  administrative 
law  under  Professor  F.  J.  Goodnow,  in  constitutional  law 
under  Professor  J.  W.  Burgess,  in  political  economy  and 
finance  under  Professor  E.  R.  A.  Seligman,  and  in  the 
history  of  European  law  under  Professor  Munroe  Smith. 

In  addition  to  the  report  above  noted,  he  has  written 
The  Iowa  Board  of  Control;  a  centralized  system  of  admin- 
istration for  State  institutions,  published  by  the  Michigan 

Political  Science  Association. 

325 


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